<p dir="ltr">Keep in mind the CCC telco network will not provide data, additionally the service coverage is pretty crappy, only good at Camp, not in Berlin. :p</p>
<p dir="ltr">--<br>
Rubin<br>
<a href="mailto:rubin@starset.net">rubin@starset.net</a></p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Aug 7, 2015 12:49, "Mitch Altman" <<a href="mailto:maltman23@hotmail.com">maltman23@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div><div dir="ltr">Also, for 5 EUR you can buy a SIM card at CCCamp at the EventPhone table. With it you get a 4-digit phone number that works at CCCamp. (It connects with the DECT phone system, where anyone who brings a cordless DECT phone can get a free 4-digit phone number for CCCamp. But, you don't need a DECT phone if you buy the SIM card.)<br> <br>I have a DECT phone. My number is: 2676 (which spells: CORN). You can call me on the EventPhone system (with another DECT phone or a mobile phone with the 5 EUR SIM card) throughout CCCamp.<br> <br>Best,<br>Mitch.<br><br> <br><div><hr>From: <a href="mailto:rubin@starset.net" target="_blank">rubin@starset.net</a><br>Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2015 11:12:54 +0200<br>To: <a href="mailto:congress@lists.noisebridge.net" target="_blank">congress@lists.noisebridge.net</a><br>Subject: [Noisebridge-congress] Data / Cell service and SIM cards in Germany<br><br><div dir="ltr">Every CCC event I get asked, "How do I German sparkle party cellular internet?" and every year I point people to the same place but it's generally too late as you're already in Germany and without internet access and too fucking high on Mate to figure out how to navigate a website in German.<div><br></div><div>The things you need to know are...</div><div><br></div><div>0 - If you are a T-Mobile US customer, and have a normal non-prepaid account, you have free 2G data roaming world wide. Call them to double check. In most cases to get this working you simply need to turn on data roaming in your phone (which is generally off by default). Keep in mind calling while traveling internationally will still cost you an arm and a leg. 2G isn't great but it's enough to deal with email and maps. If reading 10 more steps is daunting, switching to T-Mobile might be your best bet.</div><div><br></div><div>1 - Bookmark this page, if not this whole site for future travels. <a href="http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Germany" target="_blank">http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Germany</a></div><div><br></div><div>2 - If your phone isn't unlocked, or isn't quad band in some form, you're fucked. Buying phones from a shitty carrier (such as AT&T) typically means its locked and I unfortunately can't help you traverse the hell that it is to get it unlocked. Additionally if you're with Sprint or Verizon, your phone is most likely not GSM and pretty useless outside of the US, Canada, and Japan. Check out this list of which carriers operate on which bands. Keep in mind if your phone doesn't do 3G in the bands listed for a provider but does to LTE, it will still work but will either be really slow or really fast, and suck at coverage when the only thing available is 3G. <a href="http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Germany#Coverage_and_speed" target="_blank">http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Germany#Coverage_and_speed</a> </div><div><br></div><div>3 - You can buy SIM cards almost anywhere. Good spots to get them are Media Markts, Saturns, and some of the bigger grocery chains, but you can also just walk into a liquor store. You might even end up being lucky at the airport and find a kiosk with an English speaker who knows how to help travelers.</div><div><br></div><div>4 - The majority of providers you will find are MVNOs, which just lease time off of other bigger networks. Check out this handy table for some more details on them and costs. <a href="http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Germany#Survey_of_MVNOs" target="_blank">http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Germany#Survey_of_MVNOs</a></div><div><br></div><div>5 - Some of these cards will come preloaded with something like €10 - €15 of credit, however if you don't want to squabble it all being charged per megabyte, remember to apply that credit to a data package after registering online, before actually plugging in the card and using it.</div><div><br></div><div>6 - After acquiring a SIM card it must be registered. This typically happens online, so you must plan on having a laptop (with Google translate) with net access after grabbing the card. Trying to register on over wifi on your phone is horrible and you will hate life. The majority of the providers will ask for a legitimately real German address, and sometimes even a valid land line phone number. If you know how to Google you should be able to figure this out.<br clear="all"><div><br></div><div>7 - Many of these providers will allow you to reload the card later online through a credit card. Make sure you actually use whatever name you have for your credit card as the name for the account with the provider. It's still prepaid but they'll use your account name when charging the card, and wont let you change it later on when realizing you've painted yourself into a corner with a fake name because you're some bad ass hacker from 'Merica.</div><div><br></div><div>8 - You can also buy credit in cash, however I've only once been able to find a store selling it for my provider and got it entered in correctly into my phone. It's just generally easier to either charge online or buy new SIM cards and active one after the previous one runs out of data.</div><div><br></div><div>9 - SIM cards eventually expire. Generally the length of time is 6 or 12 months. They expire either from non-use, not being topped off, or not interacting with the network. None of the carriers list out what their criteria is for use, so it's hard to say how you could keep your number and SIM active for your next trip. If you want to be an elite h4cker, might I suggest looking into Twilio for maintaining a persistent number.</div><div><br></div><div>10 - Before you leave the states, figure out which size of SIM card your phone takes ( <a href="http://unevensidewalks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/sim-card-sizes-mini-micro-nano-text-350x237.jpg" target="_blank">http://unevensidewalks.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/sim-card-sizes-mini-micro-nano-text-350x237.jpg</a> and <a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/GSM_Micro_SIM_Card_vs._GSM_Mini_Sim_Card_-_Break_Apart.svg" target="_blank">https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/GSM_Micro_SIM_Card_vs._GSM_Mini_Sim_Card_-_Break_Apart.svg</a> ). Keep this in mind when you're shopping for cards, as they'll often come in different flavors and not offer all the sizes out of the box. Unless you're crafty with a blade or scissors, you might benefit from bringing along a cheap SIM card cutter off of Amazon.<br></div><div><br></div><div>With all that being said, I've generally had good luck with Blau. Their online registration process used to be horrible but now isn't so bad if you're just running the Google translate extension. I believe their SIM card starter packs come with €15 credit, €10 of which can go to a 1GB package.</div><div><br></div><div>Last bit here is a tip. When traveling you will generally use more data than when you're at home. This is mainly because you're using more maps and searching for more bull shit to go do. Try to precache maps, and turn off syncing for things you know you're not using as much (like your work email). Setup some sort of monitor on your data usage, so that when you do run out it's not a total surprise and you're not suck somewhere wondering how the fucking trains work.</div><div><br></div>-- <br><div>Rubin<br><a href="mailto:rubin@starset.net" target="_blank">rubin@starset.net</a><br></div>
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