Snoog Mobile is offering a prepaid price plan with low rates for mobile phone calls and SMS as well as free instant messaging with the ICQ client for free within Germany. Instant messaging is only free of charge with a compatible Nokia or Sony Ericsson cell phone, with the ICQ client installed on the mobile phone and when using the APN “wap.vodafone.de”. With other phones, other clients or other internet access settings users of the Snoog Mobile SIM card pay EUR 0.29 per megabyte for instant messaging or for using any other mobile data services over the network of operator Vodafone.

Discoplus is a new discount provider in the Geman market that offers a prepaid price plan mobile phone calls within Germany at low rates. For calls to home phone and other mobiles in Germany Discoplus subscribers are charged EUR 0.08 per minute, for sending SMS they pay EUR 0.08 per message. The prepaid starter package of Discoplus includes a SIM card and calling credit of EUR 5.00 and is available at www.discoplus.de for EUR 9.95. Currently, new customers of Discoplus receive a bonus of 50 free calling minutes.

Aldi is selling an UMTS surf stick to netbook and notebook users for EUR 49.99. The Medion Mobile Web Stick S4011 supports GPRS, EDGE, UMTS and HSDPA for mobile data transmission over a mobile network with up to 3.6 mbps (download) as well as SMS. The UMTS surf stick comes without a SIM lock and there is no SIM card included in the package. Aldi is also offering a prepaid SIM card for the network of operator E-Plus with EUR 10.00 credit for EUR 12.99.

Because of high roaming charges, prepaid SIM cards of domestic providers are a good choice when making mobile phone calls in another country. Usually, these prepaid price plans come without any minimum term or any monthly fee and users are only charged when actually making a phone call. Thus, tourists, travelers, au-pairs or exchange students can even take the prepaid SIM card back home and use it again when visiting the country next time. When being in Germany, there is a broad range of prepaid price plans offering low rates for mobile phone calls within Germany and for international mobile phone calls. However, some of them require a minimum turnover by the customer.

Car navigation specialist TomTom now offers prepaid cards for its Live services on portable navigation devices (PNDs). After a free three month trial period users can choose to buy a prepaid Live services card for six months (EUR 59.95) or for twelve months (EUR 99.95). Alternatively, users can book an ongoing subscription via TomTom Home desktop software for EUR 9.95 per month which can be canceled with an one month’s notice. With TomTom Live services latest traffic information (HD Traffic), weather forecasts, fuel prices, safety alerts and information about local shops and business found by way of Google search are sent directly to the SIM card in a compatible navigation device.

Mobile phone provider Blauworld has cut rates for accessing the internet via GPRS or UMTS by cell phone. From now on, Blauworld only charges EUR 0.49 per megabyte for accessing the internet over the network of operator E-Plus instead of EUR 9.00 as before. This sounds like a great bargain for new and existing customers of Blauworld, however, in comparison to tariffs of other German discount providers this price for using the mobile internet is still expensive. Customers of other brands using the E-Plus network such as Aldi Talk, Blau or Simyo only pay EUR 0.24 per megabyte – that’s less than half of it.

In the past few years German network operator E-Plus has been successful with several low-cost brands for mobile phone calls and messaging such as Ay Yildiz or Simyo and not so much with own tariffs. Now, the operator takes it to the next level and does not distribute any price plans by itself anymore but just under its different brands instead. People looking for a postpaid price plan or flat rate tariff now have to look at the Base brand plans. Since the beginning of this month Base is offering two different price plans: a postpaid price plan with a two-year minimum term and with several tariff options and a prepaid price plan.

There are just about 150 brands in the German mobile phone market. With Simsay, another one is offering a prepaid price plan with low rates for national as well some international calls. Over the network of operator E-Plus, users of the prepaid SIM card of Simsay can make phone calls to other home phones or mobile phones and check their voice mail within Germany for EUR 0.089 per minute. Mobile phone calls to other subscibers of the Simsay tariff cost only EUR 0.059 per minute. For sending SMS messages within Germany Simsay charges EUR 0.089 as well, for accessing the internet via GPRS or UMTS EUR 0.29 per megabyte. The prepaid starter package including a SIM card and calling credit of EUR 5.00 is available at www.simsay.de for EUR 4.95.

There are already a few low-cost providers in the German market that offer national mobile phone calls for EUR 0.08 per minute. With Hellomobil a new brand of Drillisch Telecom GmbH has joined the ranks of these discount brands. What makes the prepaid price plan of Hellmobil so special is that it is the first one allowing for mobile phone calls to other home phones or mobile phones in Germany at EUR 0.08 per minute over the network of O2 Germany. Checking voice mail within Germany is free of charge, sending an SMS message to other German mobiles costs EUR 0.08 as well.

Vodafone has launched a new discount brand in the German phone market. o.tel.o offers a prepaid price plan with low rates of EUR 0.09 per minute for national calls and for calls to landline phones in selected countries. Checking voice mal within Germany is free of charge, for sending an SMS message users of a prepaid SIM card of o.tel.o pay EUR 0.09 as well. The prepaid starter packages includes a SIM card and is available at www.otelo.de for EUR 4.95 (with EUR 5.00 calling credit ) or at retails stores such as Euronics, EP, Promarkt, Saturn, Media Markt for EUR 9.95 (with EUR 10.00 calling credit).