Dear readers, we wish you a happy new year! As you have noticed we took a little break around Christmas and new year’s eve. Now we are back and will keep on offering you new information on low-priced pay as you go tariffs for mobile phone calls and mobile Internet access by smart-phone, netbook or laptop and new reviews on the latest handsets available in Germany. But first, let us look back at the most important developments in the German prepaid market in the past year.

The pay as you go tariff “Lidl Mobile” of grocery retailer Lidl ist quite interesting: With the “Lidl Mobile” price plan mobile phone users pay € 0.09 per minute for mobile phone calls and € 0.09 per for each text message sent within Germany until they have reached a billing amount of € 40.00 - from then on Lidl Mobile will not be charged for further mobile phone calls and SMS until the next billig cycle begins. Upcoming Thursday, December 9th, Lidl will add mobile data flat rate tariffs and a 3G web stick for notebook and netbook users to its “Lidl Mobile” offer.

As in 2009, grocery retailer Aldi is selling a smart-phone at the beginning of christmas season. This year it is the Android smart-phone Samsung Galaxy 550 which is available from today at Aldi Nord supermarkets for € 169.00 without plan. On its flyer Aldi Nord uses the mobile phone’s old labeling Samsung Galaxy 5 GT-I5500. Here is a short review of the touch-screen phone running on the Android OS 2.1 (Eclair) and an evaluation whether the Aldi smart-phone is a good deal or not.

Prepaid price plans with monthly cost cap for selected services help mobile phone users to save money. Actually, these pay-as-you price plans equal flat rate tariffs with one big difference: Customers with a cost cap tariff pay for the first and every following call or text message (SMS) until they have reached a certain invoice amount. On the other hand, mobile phone users with a regular flat rate tariff pay a certain amount of money for certain calls, SMS or other services regardless of whether they actually make lots of phone calls or send many text messages - the monthly lump-sum will be due even when the customers does not make any call at all during the billing cycle. Thus, a regular flat rate tariff might not pay off for consumers. Here is an overview of pay-as-you-go tariffs in Germany that come with a monthly cost limit.

Now that Telekom has disclosed its new iPhone plans and that Vodafone and O2 Germany have launched the iPhone as well, we get the entire picture. Reason enough for me to wrap it all up. Where can I buy an unlocked iPhone 4 or iPhone 3G S? What provider or retailer in Germany selling the iPhone 4 offers the best bargain? Where in Germany can I buy the iPhone 4 by monthly payments in case I am not able to put down the money at once? What are the best prepay price plans for iPhone users? Which mobile phone providers in Germany hand out these micro SIM cards that fit into the iPhone 4? Will I save money when I buy the iPhone 4 with SIM lock and plan? And where do I find network coverage maps for Germany? Here you will get the answers.

Telekom and Vodafone are selling the Apple iPhone 4 only with SIM or net lock and to customers who also choose one of their voice and mobile data price plans with a long minimum term commitment of 24 months. O2 Germany is the only network operator in the Germany, offering the iPhone 4 without SIM lock and without plan to its customers. The current iPhone model with 16 GB storage capacity costs € 649.00 at O2 Germany stores, the iPhone 4 32 GB costs € 769.00. This is one of the most attractive offers for people looking for an iPhone without SIM lock in order to use it with a prepaid SIM card. Here is an overview of iPhone 4 prepaid offers in Germany, including purchase prices for the Apple smart-phone at different shops and pay as you tariffs that come with a necessary micro SIM card.

In Germany Apple had partnered with only one operator for marketing the iPhone. Telekom Deutschland (former T-Mobile) has had the right to sell the Apple iPhone in Germany exclusively since the launch of the first iPhone in 2007. Telekom offered the iPhone with special voice and mobile data plans with a long term commitment of 24 months and with SIM lock only. Now, other operators such as Vodafone and O2 Germany may market the Apple iPhone in Germany. But don’t get your hopes up too soon and count on dropping purchase prices for the iPhone 4 in Germany because of more competitors selling the smart-phone – the iPhone 4 will remain high-priced. Here is an overview of the iPhone offers of Telekom, Vodafone, O2 Germany and other mobile phone providers and retailers in Germany.

More and more people switch from a cell phone to a smart-phone because they also want to use apps and on-line services when being on their way. However, many of these people buying a smart-phone for the first time do not know how to use such a device. For example, they do not consider that in most cases they it is not sufficient to just buy the smart-phone – they should book a mobile data tariff option of their mobile phone provider to avoid generating a high mobile phone bill. Smart-phones – or better: apps running on the smart-phone – “want” to be connected to the web the whole time. One way of excluding this cost trap is to book a mobile data flat rate tariff. German operator O2 Germany has launched new cost limit features that protect inexperienced smart-phone users from high mobile phone bills when accessing the Internet over the O2 Germany network via GPRS or UMTS.

German discount providers Blau and Simyo will introduce new features for their pay as you tariffs in November: From November 1st on, the charges for mobile phone calls, texting (SMS) and accessing the Internet over the network of operator E-Plus in Germany will be limited to € 39.00 over a 30-day period. This new cost limit feature (Blau is calling it “Kostenschutz”, Simyo is calling it “Pille fürs Handy”) will be available for new customers ordering a prepaid starter package of Blau or Simyo. Customers already using a prepaid SIM card of Blau or Simyo must activate this feature by dialing the service number 1155 in order to limit their maximum costs for calls, texting and mobile Internet access.

Next Tuesday, October 19th, Vodafone Germany and SevenOne Intermedia GmbH launch a new pay as you go tariff called “Fyve”. The new prepaid price plan offers low rates of € 0.09 per minute for mobile phone calls within Germany as well as for international calls from Germany to 33 selected countries and of € 0.09 per message for texting. Checking voice mail in Germany is free of charge. Accessing the Internet by cell phone or smart-phone (or even by using a 3G web stick and a netbook or a notebook) with the Fyve prepaid plan is only possible when the customer has booked one of the two mobile data tariff options “Vielsurfer-Paket” for € 5.00 per month or “Flatrate-Paket” for € 10.00 per month.