UMTS Surf Stick, Picture: Fonic

Discount provider Fonic limits monthly fees for netbook or notebook users accessing the internet via GPRS or UMTS over the network of oerator O2 Germany. From now on, Fonic will not charge users of the provider’s prepaid SIM card with “Tages-Flatrate” tariff more than EUR 25.00 per month for mobile internet access. The regular charge of the “Tages-Flatrate” price plan amounts to EUR 2.50 for each day that the subscriber actually connects to the internet via GPRS or UMTS. Thus, for the first ten days of using the Fonic mobile internet access within a month the users are liable to pay the daily charge, every following day of usage is free of charge.

In some areas, the network of O2 Germany provides data transfer speeds of up to 7.2 mbps. The Fonic “Tages-Flatrate” tariff offers 500 MB per day and/or 5 GB per month of usage for data transmissions with EDGE, UMTS or HSPA speed. When either one of these data volume limits has been reached, the maximum data transfer speed will be reduced to GPRS level.

Fonic is a subsidiary of O2 Germany. The prepaid starter package with UMTS surf stick, SIM card and credit of one day of mobile internet access is available at Lidl stores or at www.fonic.de for EUR 39.95. Buyers just need to show an ID when getting the prepaid starter pack. The Fonic UMTS surf stick does only support HSDPA with up to 3.6 mbps, though.

The Fonic SIM card can also be used for mobile phone calls. The discount provider offers mobile phone calls to landlines and other mobile phones in Germany for EUR 0.09 per minute. Checking voice mail is free of charge. With the prepaid price plan of Fonic cell phone users can make calls to fixed lines of 50 other countries for EUR 0.09 per minute.

Overviews of Price Plans for Mobile Internet Access in Germany:
Prepaid Price Plans for Mobile Internet Access
Mobile Internet Plans with Short Minimum Term