Overview:

In Germany, the supermarket discounter LIDL, to be found most cities and villages in Germany, offers a prepaid 2G/3G SIM card under the name of "Fonic". Fonic is the discount brand of Telefonica o2 and therefore offers the same coverage as o2.

Additionally to LIDL the cards can be bought at dm, real, JET, Staples, Promarkt, Komet and Müller. You can find the nearest store here.

Apart from the very reasonably priced internet access fees (see below for details), they also offer very low priced voice calls both locally as well as international :

€0.09/min. to all landlines and mobile #'s in Germany
€0.09/min. to all landlines in US, Canada and EU countries (full country list here)
€0.29/min. to all mobile #'s in US, Canada and EU countries (full country list here)

data tariffs

The price per megabyte is €0.24 and is billed in intervals of 100 kb. The SIM card itself can be bought in any Lidl discouter for €10 without prepaid balance.

It's also possible to change the data tariff to an unlimited use per day for 2.50 euros a day that is only charged if the SIM is used for Internet access on a day.
To switch from volume-based billing to the dayflat tariff call customer care at 80000 (14 ct/min) or send an eMail through their web form (via this web page). Since eMails are not answered earlier than 24 hours, it might be preferable to request tariff switch by phone, which is carried out immdiately. An SMS will confirm activation of the new tariff option.



where to buy top up vouchers
Fonic SIMs can be topped up by special Fonic vouchers available at the supermarket chains Lidl, DM, real and at JET petrol stations. Additionally the more spread "O2 Loop Up" vouchers, which are sold at supermarkets, gasstations, kiosks and vending machines, are accepted for topping up Fonic SIMs, too.



activation
The card must be activated online http://www.fonic.de/html/ (then "SIM freischalten") or Tel. 0800-4636642, Mon - Sat 8 - 20 h. You need an german bank account, a german address and a passport-number. For the first activation you must recharge 10 Euros from the german bank account. Also an automatic monthly recharge (from banc account) is activated. This can be deactivated immediatly.
Detailed Actions:
a) go to Website https://www.fonic.de/selfcare/servlet/ActivationInfo
b) Enter the Mobile Nr. at "Mobilfunknummer" and the "Freischaltungsnummer" as noted on the SIM-Cardholder
c) then Click "Weiter"
d) Enter Anrede (Herr = Mister, Frau= Miss), Vorname (First Name), Nachnahme (Surename) then
Strasse (Street), Hausnummer (No.), PLZ (ZIP-Code) Stadt (City) of your German location
e) Enter eMail, Geburtsdatum (Birthday), Ausweiss/Paß-Nr(Passport-No) and Staatsangehörigkeit (Nationality)
f) then you can choose a Passwort (Kennwort) and repeat it (Kennwort wiederholen)
g) if you enter the author's phone number (017696100015) at "Mobilfunknummer/Aktionscode" you and the author will both get 5 EUR of bonus credit each!
h) then click "Weiter"
i) now you can (not obligatory) enter your bank account data (Kontonummer and Bankleitzahl) and activate the checkbox at " Hiermit ermächtige ich die FONIC GmbH widerruflich, alle fälligen Beträge zu Lasten meines angegebenen Kontos durch Lastschrift einzuziehen."), if you wish to recharge your FONIC SIM from your German bank account.
j) then you must choose how much money it automaticly top up every month - and when (mid of month = monatsmitte, begin of month = monatsanfang)
You can deactivate the automatic recharge after the registration!
k) then the confirmation page is displayed. here you must activate the first checkboxes and repeat the Sicherheitscode (displayed right of the input field)
l) then you must click on "Freischaltung fertigstellen" to finalize the process.

disable automatic recharge
Go to the Homepage and login with your Mobile-Nr. and Password.
Here you can check your Account Balance
Click to "Monatliche Aufladung"
Then you must click to "hier deaktivieren" and on the next page to "weiter"



internet experience
As the only German operator O2 (including Fonic) has officially allowed VoIP-usage on their network without any additional costs, whereas T-Mobile and Vodafone prohibit VoIP in their terms & conditions and have announced to introduce special VoIP-enabled data tariffs. Allthough T-Mobile and Vodafone have not yet actually blocked VoIP, this may become reality when VoIP-enabled data tariffs will be introduced.




misc

• All services are open, e.g. web surfing, SMTP and POP3 works just fine.
• APN to use: pinternet.interkom.de, no username or password
  
• Fonic is a MVNO and uses the German O2 GSM and UMTS network. GSM is pure GPRS at the moment in most areas. Currently, O2 is upgrading its 2G network to EDGE. In some areas, O2 has a national roaming agreement with T-Mobile. However, Fonic SIM cards might be barred from national roaming.
  
• To check the account *101#