Getting a new landline is pretty expensive, using call-through services is quite complicated – thus, two adequate alternatives for making international calls at low rates are not available to many phone users. Another way to make phone calls from Germany to other countries in the world at comparably low rates is to buy a prepaid SIM card of a German discount provider specialized in international calls. They offer cell phone plans with which mobile phone users can call family members, friends or acquaintances for rates beginning at EUR 0.09 per minute. However, prices vary and interested parties should select their prepaid starter package carefully.

Some DSL and home phone packages of German providers such as Alice, Congstar and O2 Germany come with a minimum term of four or six weeks. The DSL packages include at least an analog landline and a DSL connection with a flat rate tariff for web access. Sometimes a flat rate tariff for landline calls to other home phones in Germany is already included as well. Since some providers rely in certain regions on a wholesale product of Deutsche Telekom in order to provide landline and broadband internet connections, they may add an additional EUR 5.00 per month to the standard monthly fee – depending on the place of residence of the subscriber. That is why in some cases the following overview of the Phone Guide Germany shows two prices for one DSL package.

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 of surfing the internet via GPRS or UMTS. The Phone Guide Germany gives an overview over current prepaid price plans for mobile internet access via GPRS or UMTS in the German market.

Some mobile phone providers in Germany offer prepaid price plans with flat rate tariffs for a 30-day use period. With such a flat rate option prepaid cell phone users can make unlimited calls to German home phones. They can book and cancel the flat rate option as needed. Prices for such flat rate options range between 10 and 15 euros. Alternatively, some mobile phone providers also offer community flat rate tariffs to their prepaid cell phone plans. With a community flat rate, the user can make unlimited mobile phone calls to other customers of their own mobile phone provider to a flat fee of 3 or 4 euros per month.

Unlike prepaid price plans with a single tariff for mobile phone calls to all German networks prepaid offers with a community tariff are suited for people regularly and often calling just three or four friends or acquaintances. With such pay as you go price plans users are charged very small prices per minute for calls to other mobile phone connections of their provider. Usually, community tariffs in Germany range between 1 or 5 cents per minute, while mobile phone calls to all other national networks amount to a price per minute between 10 and 15 cents. Thus, such price plans with a community tariff are also a good choice for families in which parents and children use the prepaid cell phone of the same mobile phone provider. The Phone Guide Germany offers a selection of prepaid cell phone plans with a community tariff of German mobile phone providers.

There is quite a few mobile providers in Germany that offer prepaid or postpaid price plans with a consistent price per minute for mobile phone calls within Germany and an one month minimum term. The price per minute for domestic calls starts with 8 cents per minute, however, most of the time it is 9 cents per minute to all German networks. The Phone Guide Germany offers a list of cheap mobile price plans in Germany for mobile phone calls and SMS messages.

Most internet providers in Germany offer broadband internet access via DSL or via coaxial cable only with a long minimum term of 24 months. However, there are a some exceptions for internet users who need a broadband internet connection only for a few months: Internet providers such as Congstar, Hansenet (Alice), M-net and Netcologne also have price plan packages consisting of a home phone connection, a DSL internet connection and flat rate tariffs for phone calls and internet access with a minimum term of just one month.

The following home phone packages of German providers come with a minimum term of one month and an analog telephone connection. For an ISDN line the home phone providers charge higher monthly fees. Except for the Call Plus package of T-Home, a DSL connection is included. The Alice Fun package of Hansenet and the Maxi Komplett package of M-net already include a double flat rate tariff for internet access and phone calls to other home phones in Germany. In all other packages, customers pay per minute for each phone. Hansenet also offers a flat rate option for home calls to fixed lines in all European countries, Australia, Canada and the United States for 4.90 euros per month.

With prices beginning at 9 cents per minute for mobile phone calls from Germany to countries such as Great Britain, Spain, or the United States, this way many mobile phone users will save money compared to calls with their SIM card back from home. Starter packages of the following price plans of German mobile providers for mobile calls to other countries cost between 10 and 20 euros and sometimes include credit for free calls at the beginning. Some providers do not only charge their customers per minute, but also impose a one-time connection fee per call.