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.

Getting a new landline is pretty expensive, using call-through services is quite complicated – thus, two adequate alternatives for making international calls at low rates are not available to many phone users. Another way to make phone calls from Germany to other countries in the world at comparably low rates is to buy a prepaid SIM card of a German discount provider specialized in international calls. They offer cell phone plans with which mobile phone users can call family members, friends or acquaintances for rates beginning at EUR 0.09 per minute. However, prices vary and interested parties should select their prepaid starter package carefully.

Sunday, classic hangover day, one might say. But of course, not only New York is a city that never sleeps. There are parties worth going to every day of the week without an exception. But where to go? During the last couple of years, Berlin got famous especially for its electronic music partys. Some tourists only consider visiting Berlin, because they want to see the huge, factory-like seeming halls of “Berghain” – or maybe just the legendary face-tattoo-bouncer, whose communication skills appear to be limited to minimalistic nods. To find interesting events, the websites of city magazines like zitty, tip or – especially recommendable – 030 are always reliable options. A little bit more thrilling is certainly “restrealitaet”, which means “rest of reality” in English…

Nokia has launched a new version of Ovi Maps that includes high-end car and pedestrian navigation features such as detailed maps for more than 180 countries, voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation for 74 countries and traffic information for more than ten countries. Both navigation and maps are free of charge and will be installed on any A-GPS smartphone with Symbian S60 sold from March on, updates of maps and additional Ovi Maps services will be carried out automatically over the air.

Tonight millions of people welcoming the new year will use their mobile phone in order to contact loved ones and friends and to wish them a Happy New Year. The German industry association Bitkom estimates that about 290 millions of SMS messages will be sent at midnight. Even though mobile networks are constantly expanded and upgraded by the operators T-Mobile, Vodafone, E-Plus and O2 Germany, it is likely that they will not be able to handle all the traffic and to forward every SMS messages sent immediately. In some cases, it could even take two or three hours until Happy New Year wishes will arrive at their destination when the SMS messages has been sent at midnight or a few minutes later. But there are ways to avoid this.

It might take years until Berlin will get its free WiFi network throughout the city such as other cities like Austin or San Francisco. However, there are still a lot of locations with free WiFi (or WLAN) access to the web such as bars, cafes, hostels, hotels or even certain points of interest. With more and more people having a netbook or a smartphone with WiFi support and more and more people taking their mobiles on their trips to other countries, WiFi hotspots become hot again. For example, by using a free WiFi hotspot in Berlin mobile phone or netbook users from other countries save high data roaming expenses – all it might take to access the internet for free is to get a password at the counter and order one or two coffees during the online session. The Phone Guide Germany tells you at which locations in Berlin you will find free WiFi connections to the web.

Around the world, swine flu (H1N1) related deaths are on the rise. In Germany eleven deaths from swine flu (H1N1) haven been reported so far. Most of these fatal cases had been caused by complications associated with other illnesses such as pneumonia for example. Even though most of these cases of infection have taken a mild course so far, experts warn there could be a second wave of pandemic influenza beginning. Personal hygiene measures and vaccination are among the most important prevention measures. Doctors in Germany have also begun contacting high-priority patients to get their swine flu (H1N1) shot. The Phone Guide Germany tells you where to find English language information about the swine flu (H1N1) in Germany by telephone or on the internet.

Today, Nokia starts an advertising campaign for the navigation service Ovi Maps and opens a Nokia Navigation Store at Oranienburger Straße 1-3, just around the corner from Hackescher Markt, in Berlin. Until Sunday, visitors can try the Ovi navigation services on the cell phone Nokia 6710 Navigator, listen to lectures about future trends in mobile navigation or take guided tours to settings of famous movies such as “James Bond 007: Octopussy”, “Goodbye Lenin”, “The Bourne Conspiracy” which were shot in Berlin.

Visitors of the Brandenburg capital Potsdam can now receive information on twelve places of interest by mobile phone. Calling a specific phone number for a point of interest, the visitor is told the most important facts about historic sites they are looking at such as the Stadtschloss, the Marstall, the Hollaendisches Viertel, or the Brandenburger Tor. Each announcement is limited to two or three minutes. The tourist information service for visitors of Potsdam is free of charge except for the connection fee for a phone call to a landline connection which depends on the price plan of the mobile phone user.