Prepaid mobile data price plans are suited for notebook and netbook users who need mobile internet access via GRPS or UMTS at irregular intervals or just sporadically. Since there is no long minimum term, such prepaid data price plans also lend themselves to being used by travellers, exchange students or business men abroad who stay in Germany only for a few weeks or months. Another advantage of such prepaid offers is that users only pay for it when they actually use the mobile internet access – there is no monthly fee for a mobile data contract with a long minimum term that is no longer needed or used. This article gives notebook and netbook users an overview of current prepaid starter packages including an UMTS surf stick and a mobile internet price plan of mobile phone providers in Germany.

Notebook or netbook users can choose between different types of mobile data price plans. Either they per minute or per megabyte, or they pay a flat rate tariff for a certain amount of time, e.g. for a few hours, for one day or for a 30 day period. There is an important difference between certain day flat tariffs: Some of them end automatically at midnight or after 24 hours while others keep the connection to the internet and start a new billing cycle.

What kind of mobile internet price plan is best suited for the user depends on what he or she intends to do: Downloading large amounts of files from the web in a short period of time should be done with a mobile internet access billed in minute- or hour-units. A mobile internet price plan billed by megabyte-units is better suited for users who want to be connected to the web for a long time. In most cases it is not allowed to use mobile data services such as voice over IP or peer to peer with these price plans. T-Mobile and Vodafone also prohibit the use of instant messaging in their networks without paying an extra charge.

Check Maximum Data Transfer Rate

Notebook or netbook users also have to decide on one of several prepaid starter packages of different mobile phone providers in four different networks (T-Mobile, Vodafone, E-Plus and O2 Germany). Except for E-Plus, all German operators offer data transmission rates similar to DSL in their mobile networks. Usually you can count on data download speeds between 3,6 mbps and 14.4 mbps in UMTS networks. E-Plus has just started to upgrade the UMTS network to HSDPA, however, data transmission rates rarely exceed 440 kbps.

When you buy a prepaid starter package including an UMTS surf stick maximum data transmission rates are not just limited by the network capacity, but also by the performance of the UMTS surf stick. In prepaid starter packages German mobile phone providers often include older models that support only up to 3.6 mbps download speed. In addition: Within a certain amount of time, downloads with EDGE, UMTS or HSDPA speed is usually limited to a certain amount data volume (usually 1 GB per day or per week, or 5 GB for a 30-day period).

Before deciding on a new prepaid mobile data package, make sure you check maximum transmission rates of the mobiel network and the UMTS surf stick as well as restriction on the amount of data volume that can be download during the booked online session. That way you avoid being disappointed by your mobile internet package later on. For instance, mobile phone provider Base only allows 250 MB data volume to be downloaded within 24 hours while other providers limit downloads to 1 GB per day.

Overview of Current Prepaid Surf Stick Packages

The following mobile internet packages include a SIM card, an UMTS surf stick and a prepaid price plan for accessing the internet via GPRS or UMTS. Maximum data transmission rates refer to network performance or to UMTS surf stick capability. The purchase price in this overview is made up of the purchase price of the UMTS surf stick and the SIM card as well as the charge for delivery minus a starting balance if granted by the mobile phone provider. Also, watch out for UMTS surf sticks that come with a SIM or net lock: It is not possible to use these UMTS surf sticks with the SIM card of another mobile phone provider. For example, UMTS surf sticks without SIM or net lock are available at T-Mobile, Fonic, Blau and Aldi Talk. And: Check the UMTS network coverage at those locations where you want to use your new mobile internet access, first.

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Overview of current prepaid plans for mobile internet access in Germany:
Prepaid Price Plans for Mobile Internet Access

Read more about prepaid surf stick packages at www.teltarif.de (in German).