Berlin will not get a city-wide WiFi network. The Berlin Senate has decided that there are not enough street lights in town to which WiFi antennas could be attached. Thus, setting up such a WiFi network will be too expensive for any network operator or investor, the Berlin Senate says. Accessing the internet via GPRS or UMTS has become affordable, the Berlin Senate argues as well. Network operators T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2 Germany already offer data transmission rates of at least 3.6 mbps in the German capital. As reported earlier, the Berlin Senate and the internet access provider Airdata had put a two-week test trial the project is now on hold last December.

However, there are still a lot of locations with free WiFi access to the web such as bars, cafes, hostels, hotels or even certain points of interest. With more and more people having a netbook or a smartphone with WiFi support and more and more people taking their mobiles on their trips to other countries, WiFi hotspots become hot again. For example, by using a free WiFi hotspot in Berlin mobile phone or netbook users from other countries save high data roaming expenses – all it might take to access the internet for free is to get a password at the counter and order one or two coffees during the online session. The Phone Guide Germany tells you at which locations in Berlin you will find free WiFi connections to the web.

Read: Free WiFi Hotspots in Berlin

Mobile internet price plans on a prepaid basis are interesting for users of mobile phones, notebooks, or netbooks, who are only sporadically online. Newcomers can choose between different offers in the networks of T-Mobile, Vodafone, E-Plus, and O2 Germany, in which the customer pays an one-time fee for one day or for one month of surfing the internet via GPRS or UMTS. Here is a list of all current prepaid plans for mobile internet access via GPRS and UMTS in the German market.

Read: Prepaid Price Plans for Mobile Internet Access via GPRS or UMTS