To make a long story short, my boyfriend is in Germany until Sunday, in a smallish, not terribly touristy town (his dad is in the hospital there). He took with him an old GSM phone that he has, hoping that he could buy a SIM card there so he would be reachable and be able to have at least a semi-private conversation with me now and again (I can call the hospital room, where his dad just got out of intensive care, or I can call the hotel, where he is staying in a room with his mom - I like his family and all, but these alternatives suck, to be blunt).
So he just e-mailed me that prepaid phone cards are only sold to residents of Germany - how is this possible? Is it true? The e-mail isn’t clear on whether he means pay-as-you-go SIM cards, or regular prepaid phone cards to be used from land lines, but either way, that seems counterintuitive. So what’s the scoop?
UPDATE: he’s talking about a SIM card, and apparently the sales guy told him he needed to provide a German passport or proof of residence in Germany. But he doesn’t speak German, and the sales guy’s English wasn’t the greatest, so it may have just been a misunderstanding. Or maybe not.
I have a long term contract with my mobile phone, not a prepaid SIM card, so my information my not be accurate, but AFAIK it is indeed not possible to just walk in a German store, buy a prepaid phone card, and leave. The current government here, especially the minister of the interior, is currently running amok with regards to the old freedom vs security debate (sorry about the bias in my post, but this is really starting to become a nuisance). There has been extensive legislation in the past few years providing for eavesdropping phone calls and other means of electronic communication. To my knowledge, this legislation also obliges phone companies to register the identity of their clients, including those who wish to use a prepaid card. Under these conditions, it might be difficult for someone without a permanent residence in Germany (or another EU country) to get a SIM card. Or maybe to call from a public phone booth.
My advice would be to ask a friend if he/she will get a card for him. Regarding the salesman’s command of English, I’d recommend to just ask another client who happens to be in the store if he/she would be so kind as to act as interpreter. Most Germans speak English well enough to maintain an everyday conversation, and many of them are happy to help tourists.
Update: I looked it up, there is indeed legislation (section 111 of the Telecommunications Act [TKG], in case you’re really really interested) which obliges the phone company to register certain data of every customer, including address. Apparently this also applies to prepaid cards - the provision explicitly states that this is also compulsory if the phone company does not need the data in its course of business. So it seems your boyfriend actually needs to provide proof of residence if he wants to get his own card.
That stinks. How on Earth are nonresidents supposed to call internationally? Feed half a billion euros in change into a pay phone, if there are even working pay phones anymore? And he can’t use the hotel address or other temporary address as an address - it needs to involve an official residence permit?
Hmmmm…I wonder whether Cyprus would work as a residence? His parents live there; maybe he could have his mom buy a card for him.
If you want to go the pay phone route, unless things have changed drastically (and they may very well have), Deutsche Telekom sells telephone cards (Telefonkarte) in various denominations that you slip into a pay phone, instead of meddling about with sacks of change.
These payphones with prepaid smart cards are indeed getting rare. The reason is that most people nowadays have cellphones and so don’t have a phone card at hand when their cellphones is broke (or if they need a public phone for another reason). To sum it up, more and more public phones are changed back to coins, although the card phones still exist.
Another alternative he might want to consider is to use one of these phone shops where you pay at a counter for the calls you’ve made. You’ll find them in most cities, and they’re usually specialized in international calls, so the rates there are not bad.
Sigh…I think we’ll just deal with me calling him at the hotel, but if anyone has other ideas, please do share - I am finding this predicament rather annoying. At least it’s only for a few more days.
That might be better than nothing - but is Germany like the U.S. now, though, in that it’s basically impossible to have someone call you back at a pay phone?
At some phones it’s possible, but I don’t know how many public phones allow this. If it’s possible, the number of the phone is printed on the information sheet inside the boot - AFAIK there is no easily recognizable sign such as the bell on American phones.
Yet another alternative proposal: There are several companies which sell calling cards (the ones where you scratch up a PIN) which can be used from any landline or mobile phone. Usually you’ll get these at the phone stores I already mentioned; Deutsche Telekom also sells those, and it’s not difficult to find one of their shops (named “T-Punkt,” easily recognizable by their pink corporate design), but compared to competitors, Telekom is rather expensive.
OK, so let me get this straight; the German law requiring phone companies to record the names, adddresses, and German residency status of their customers is vital to national security. However, apparently national security is not an issue when using pay phones, totally anonymous prepaid phone cards on random landlines, and/or public phone services that operate out of random storefronts and don’t record any information about their users whatsoever?
Sorry, but I don’t get it. However, that’s a rant probably better suited for a forum other than GQ. I just want to be able to call my boyfriend without having an audience every time we talk. In normal situations, cell phones are pretty handy for that purpose, but apparently the only way for a non-German resident to use a cell phone in Germany involves having a GSM-compatible cell phone account set up elsewhere, a handset that works on the German frequency, and payment of exhorbitant international roaming rates. If he had taken my (GSM, international multi-frequency) cell phone with him, I would be able to call him on it, but for $1/min. plus taxes. Can someone explain to me how that would help German national security?
If he is close to the Czech Republic, just pop across the border and buy a Czech SIM… easy to do in any phone shop and no paperwork needed. I know with Vodafone, roaming works on pre-paid SIMS… just top it up and go back to Germany.
Nah, he’s much closer to the Netherlands. Honestly, for a few days it probably isn’t worth it, but I just don’t understand the sense in making this all as complicated as it is.