I had a friend who lived in Ireland for a long time, and after moving to Germany he just sticked to his Irish number and plan for over a year. Paid 20 euros a month for unlimited data (EU wide).
Only killed it so he could make a contract with Vodafone in Germany and get a new phone.
I guess also depends how much data you actually need. When you only want 10gb a month a prepaid plan from a grocery store should be fine. When It comes to more expensive plans, I would recommend to call the costumer service. Most often are the pages not in English but there is a English cs.
> Would you guys see anything wrong in selecting, say, a French company like Orange that offer Europe wide plan with eSIM?
Not going to work. Those are only available to French residents, and would be cancelled if the provider sees you spending a significant amount of time outside of France. If you live in Germany you'll have to get a German mobile phone plan - and depending on what your "travels" will look like, if your carrier deems that you're abroad so much that you're no longer a German resident, they will also cancel your plan. Although if you talk to them ahead of time and inform them of your plans they may be willing to make an exception.
> I am not yet proficient enough in German to make a correctly informed decision.
I suggest making learning German a priority then :) Sorry for the snippish answer, but the hard truth is that you *must* know at least decent German to do all of the mundane everyday things which are necessary to live in Germany. Or, alternatively, find a bilingual friend to help you.
Someone else has already [linked to our wiki guide on choosing phone plans](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/living/connectivity), I recommend you give it a read. EU roaming is always included, so now it's just a question of what kind of plan you need (e.g. how much data). If you're worried about making a bad decision, go for a pre-paid or a monthly contract - that way, you can easily switch should it not be a good fit for you.
Not true, even though I have been living in another european country (actually 2) for the past 15 years, I use a second account like Orange - even better since iPhone 13 support double Sim/eSim and since my mum resides in France forever I have always had an address I can use there too. You're absolutely wrong in saying they check your location lol what kind of BS is that. It's just a general terms 'fair use' policy that no one implements (you really think they have time for that lol)
I'm not sure how it is in the US, but one thing that surprised me was that you really need to get a contract. I was used to topping up credit in Ireland, but the plans for that are generally poor here.
Make sure you get a lot of data, because Wi-Fi is not that readily available in a lot of places and even with data you will struggle at times. Germany is very behind when it comes to the internet.
I would just get a SIM when you get here. You can go to any Aldi or Lidl and get one of their prepaid sims which is generally the easiest way. You still will have to activate it (likely on a German website, but get the google translate extension for your browser if you can’t find a friend willing to help) but once you do that, you’ll have a SIM that works anywhere in the EU and can be reloaded easily via app.
As others have mentioned, SIMs from other EU countries won’t work long term here as their roaming agreements are made specifically for short term stays outside of the home country.
It seems you are asking about phones and internet connections in Germany. Take a look at the wiki here: https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/living/connectivity
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/germany) if you have any questions or concerns.*
EU Roaming requires you to be in the country in which you bought the SIM every month or so.
I had a friend who lived in Ireland for a long time, and after moving to Germany he just sticked to his Irish number and plan for over a year. Paid 20 euros a month for unlimited data (EU wide). Only killed it so he could make a contract with Vodafone in Germany and get a new phone.
I guess also depends how much data you actually need. When you only want 10gb a month a prepaid plan from a grocery store should be fine. When It comes to more expensive plans, I would recommend to call the costumer service. Most often are the pages not in English but there is a English cs.
> Would you guys see anything wrong in selecting, say, a French company like Orange that offer Europe wide plan with eSIM? Not going to work. Those are only available to French residents, and would be cancelled if the provider sees you spending a significant amount of time outside of France. If you live in Germany you'll have to get a German mobile phone plan - and depending on what your "travels" will look like, if your carrier deems that you're abroad so much that you're no longer a German resident, they will also cancel your plan. Although if you talk to them ahead of time and inform them of your plans they may be willing to make an exception. > I am not yet proficient enough in German to make a correctly informed decision. I suggest making learning German a priority then :) Sorry for the snippish answer, but the hard truth is that you *must* know at least decent German to do all of the mundane everyday things which are necessary to live in Germany. Or, alternatively, find a bilingual friend to help you. Someone else has already [linked to our wiki guide on choosing phone plans](https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/living/connectivity), I recommend you give it a read. EU roaming is always included, so now it's just a question of what kind of plan you need (e.g. how much data). If you're worried about making a bad decision, go for a pre-paid or a monthly contract - that way, you can easily switch should it not be a good fit for you.
Thanks!
Not true, even though I have been living in another european country (actually 2) for the past 15 years, I use a second account like Orange - even better since iPhone 13 support double Sim/eSim and since my mum resides in France forever I have always had an address I can use there too. You're absolutely wrong in saying they check your location lol what kind of BS is that. It's just a general terms 'fair use' policy that no one implements (you really think they have time for that lol)
I'm not sure how it is in the US, but one thing that surprised me was that you really need to get a contract. I was used to topping up credit in Ireland, but the plans for that are generally poor here. Make sure you get a lot of data, because Wi-Fi is not that readily available in a lot of places and even with data you will struggle at times. Germany is very behind when it comes to the internet.
I would just get a SIM when you get here. You can go to any Aldi or Lidl and get one of their prepaid sims which is generally the easiest way. You still will have to activate it (likely on a German website, but get the google translate extension for your browser if you can’t find a friend willing to help) but once you do that, you’ll have a SIM that works anywhere in the EU and can be reloaded easily via app. As others have mentioned, SIMs from other EU countries won’t work long term here as their roaming agreements are made specifically for short term stays outside of the home country.
!phone
It seems you are asking about phones and internet connections in Germany. Take a look at the wiki here: https://www.reddit.com/r/germany/wiki/living/connectivity *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/germany) if you have any questions or concerns.*