German broadband Internet provider Hansenet (Alice) takes a second shot at marketing highspeed VDSL lines a second shot. This week the ISP will start offering VDSL lines with flat rate tariffs for surfing the web and home phone calls to other landlines in Germany and with data transfer speeds of up to 50 mbps (download) and 10 mbps (upload). New subscribers ordering the new VDSL package “Alice Speed” of Hansenet until the end of October will have to pay just € 29.90 per month for it. New subscribers ordering “Alice Speed” later than that will probably have to pay a monthly fee of € 39.90.

On the one hand, it makes life easier for mobile Internet users. On the other hand, it is potential cost trap for smartphone users who don’t about this and who don’t make the nessecary arrangements in time. Subscribers of a cell phone plan of German operator O2 Germany do not need to configure the mobile Internet access by themselves. They can access the web via GPRS or UMTS over the O2 Germany network with any access point name (APN) or even without any APN.

You want to get a DSL internet connection. You don’t want to get in three or four weeks, which is the usual time it takes providers in Germany to set up the broadband internet connection, you want to get it today. One way to access the internet immediately is to buy a prepaid SIM card and an UMTS surf stick and to access the internet over the mobile network until the DSL connection is activated. Another way is to order a DSL bundle of a provider that offers an UMTS surf stick to new customers itself. Unfortunately, at the moment there is only one provider offering DSL with a short minimum term commitment and with such an UMTS surf stick in the German market: Hansenet with its Alice brand.

There are lots of prepaid price plans for mobile internet access via GPRS or UMTS in the German market. These prepaid price plans can be used by netbook or notebook users for accessing the internet on their way with data transfer speeds of up to 7.2 mbps (download) in the networks of T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2 Germany. However, most low-rate prepaid offers are offered by discount providers realizing the mobile internet access over the network of E-Plus. This operator has just begun expanding its UMTS network. At the moment, maximum data transmission speeds hardly exceed 500 kbps (download). Netbook or notebook users looking for cheap mobile internet plans in other, better performing networks, should check postpaid price plans with short minimum – here is a short overview of current offers.

DSL provider Hansenet (Alice) is offering more favorable conditions to landline and DSL subscribers who have also booked the mobile internet tariff “Mobile Surf-Flat”. While before this tariff option held just 300 MB data volume per month in store for notebook, netbook or smartphone users, the “Mobile Surf-Flat” has now become a real flat rate tariff with unlimited data volume for transmissions over the network of O2 Germany. However, there is a data volume limit of 300 MB per month for transfers with EDGE, UMTS or HSPA speed of up to 7.2 mbps (download). Once this limit has been exceeded, the maximum transfer speed will be reduced to GPRS level for the remaining days of that specific month.

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.

My top price plans of 2009 in Germany for home phone, broadband internet, mobile phone and mobile internet users are: O2 o of mobile network operator O2 Germany, Aldi Talk 24 Stunden Internet Flatrate of discount provider Medion Mobile and the double flat rate tariff Alice Fun of Hansenet. All three offers are still available and will stay my first choices in 2010 when it comes to booking a new home phone, mobile phone or internet package until another provider will launch a better price plan. Read why I recommend these three tariffs.

Hansenet (Alice) is the first provider in Germany offering VDSL broadband lines with a short minimum term of just one month. The VDSL package “Alice Fun Speed” offers data transfer rates of up to 50 mbps (download) and 10 mbps (upload) and costs 44.90 euros per month. The broadband package includes one home phone line (Next Generation Networks) with a flat rate tariff for phone calls to other German home phones as well as an internet flat rate. The set-up fee amounts to 99.90 euros, for another one-time fee of 9.90 euros new customers can rent a WiFi router.

It is about time to introduce the cell phone plan of Hamburg seated mobile phone provider Hansenet (Alice): This cell phone plan called Alice Mobile is not a prepaid offer, but a postpaid one with a short minimum term of just one month in the network of O2 Germany. It can be very attractive to some people because there is no monthly fee or minimum charge and calls to other Alice Mobile phones as well as Alice home phones in Germany are also free of charge. For mobile phone calls to other home phones or mobile phones in Germany Alice Mobile users pay 15 cents per minute and also 15 cents for each SMS message sent within Germany.