Tchibo, a coffee house chain and MVNO on the O2 network with more than 1000 shops throughout Germany, is offering

• a dayflat for € 2.95/calendar day,
• a data pack of 500MB (€ 10/month) and
• the cheapest monthly flatrate on an HSPA-enabled network (€ 20/month) in Germany (effective July 2009).
  

Allthough officially these data options are only available to buyers of the bundle of a USB modem with prepaid SIM (a netlocked Huawei E160) and are not advertised nor published, they can be activated for every Tchibo prepaid SIM.




network
The O2 network provides nationwide coverage with GSM900/1800 and UMTS2100. The GSM-network is being upgraded to EDGE since mid-2008, while the UMTS-network's upgrade to HSDPA with 3,6 MBit/s has been completed by 99% in February 2009. HSUPA is also being rolled out already and will be finished during 2009.

network coverage
O2's GSM-network is covering 99% of the German population with it's own network while their UMTS-network is planned to reach 50% of Germans by 2009. Since O2 is the last entrant in Germany's mobile market and so some rural areas are not covered yet, they still have a national roaming agreement with T-Mobile, which will end in 2010. However O2 has accelerated network rollout since they were granted an (E)GSM900-license in March 2006 and so national roaming has already been blocked successively in most urban areas, where O2's coverage is considered sufficient. But in some rural areas Tchibo customers can still also register on T-Mobile's GSM network.
GSM-coverage can be checked at http://gisweb.o2online.de/wlsp/app?service=external&page=ExternalGSM
UMTS-coverage can be checked at http://gisweb.o2online.de/wlsp/app?service=external&page=ExternalUMTS

purchasing SIM card
Tchibo SIMs are sold at Tchibo shops and online for € 9.95. During recurring promotions the price drops down to € 1. Registration with an official ID card and German address is required, however the address will not be verified, so non-residents can provide their accommodation's address. Shipping outside Germany is not offered.

purchasing bundle of SIM card and USB-modem
The bundle of a SIM card and USB-modem is sold at Tchibo shops and online for € 59.95. The USB-modem is a netlocked Huawei E160 with a customized version of "Mobile Partner" (dashboard software) in it's flash memory, which supports credit management.

checking credit
current credit can be checked by

• calling 63633 or
• entering *101#

checking vailidity
SIM vailidiy can be checked by entering *102#

topping up credit
For top ups you can

• use "O2 Loop" top up vouchers (can ne bought almost everywhere, especially in gasstations, kiosks and supermarktes and online by creditcard from Verivox)
• use Tchibo top up vouchers (sold at Tchibo shops)
• transfer money to Tchibo's bank account (see details)
• recharge your account directly at ATM's of these banks

vouchers can be added by

• calling 63633, then pressing '1' followed by the top up code and '#' or
• entering *103*top up code#

data options
There are three data options available:

• "Tages-Flatrate", a daily flatrate for € 2.95 per calendar day (from 0:00 till 23:59) (after exceeding 1GB within a calendar day speed will be throttled to 64 KBit/s)
• "Datenpack", a volume pack of 500 MB for € 9.95 (= € 0,0199/MB) valid for 30 days
• "Internet Flatrate XL", a flatrate for € 19.95 valid for 30 days (after exceeding 5GB within a billing period speed will be throttled to 64 KBit/s)

Multiple subscription of these data packs within a bililng period is not possible.


activation of SIM
If bought in a shop the SIM will usually be be activated within a couple of hours after the shop has faxed the registration form, which must be filled out including a German address (which will not be verified however) upon purchase. If bought online, the SIM should be delivered activated.


acitvation of data option
As soon as the SIM is active and there's enough credit in your account data options can be activated...

• by USSD-Menu:
  • dial *104# and chose the desired data option from the menu
• or by SMS:
  • send a text message to 7777 containing "START TAGFLAT" for the dayflat or
  • send a text message to 7777 containing "START DATENPACK" for the 500 MB pack or
  • send a text message to 7777 containing "START DATENFLAT" for the flatrate

However subscription by SMS regularly fails due to persisting technical problems. If you receive a SMS stating the failure of the subscription ("Ihre DATAFLAT Bestellung war nicht erfolgreich. Bitte wenden Sie sich an unsere Kundenbetreuung unter 0179/64242 (5ct/Min)"), you need to subscribe by calling customer care at 0179 64242.

Activation of the data option will be confirmed by SMS within minutes, sometimes up to 24 hours.

validity period

• the daily flatrate will automatically expire at 23:59 h (no matter at what time of the day it is started) and will not recur
• the 500MB pack and the montly flatrate are valid for 30 days from the activation date
• subscriptions of the 500MB-volume pack and the monthly flatrate will recur as long as there is enough credit left. To stop a subscription send a
  
  • SMS to 7777 containing "STOP DATENPACK" for the 500MB-pack or
  • SMS to 7777 containing "STOP DATENFLAT" for the flatrate
  The dayflat will end automatically at 23:59.

• validity of the 500MB-data pack can not be prolonged.
• when the pack expires, the unused data volume will not be carried over with next activation.
• the Tchibo SIM itself is valid for 12 months after the last top-up.

check the remaining volume

*104# and go through the menu

important to know

• Billing increments of data options: 400KB
• Price per MB without data option activated: € 0,24/MB (billed in 100KB-increments)
• Price after exceeding the volume of the 500MB-pack: € 0,24/MB (billed in 400 KB-increments)

internet experience

• bandwidth
  • In EDGE-covered areas you will experience download speeds of up to 200 KBit/s and upload speeds of up to 100 KBit/s
  • In UMTS-covered areas up- and download speed will amount to up to 384 KBit/s.
  • If HSDPA is available download speed will reach up to 3,6 MBit/s. Few sites do support only 1,8 MBit/s.
  • If HSUPA is available upload speed will reach up to 1,45 MBit/s.
  
  

  

typical result of speedtest on O2 Germany's HSPA network

• latency
  • round trip latency to DeCIX usually amounts to 100-200 ms for HSDPA and 200-300 ms for UMTS. International internet exchanges can be reached without remarkable further delay.
• instant messaging
  • There is no blocking of any instant messaging service. ICQ, AIM, MSN and Yahoo were tested successfully.
• VoIP usage
  • As the only German operator O2 (including Tchibo) 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.
    
  • Incoming and outgoing (using STUN) SIP-calls can be placed flawlessly (July 2009)
  • Skype is working (July 2009)
• VPN usage
  • VPN works (tried Cisco-VPN in July 2009)
• IP address
  • Users are being assigned private IP addresses and all traffic passes a NAT-gateway

settings

• connection over GPRS/EDGE/3G/HSPA
  • АPN: webmobil1
  • username: [blank]
  • password: [blank]
  • DNS: 82.113.100.8 (not required, will be assigned automatically if left blank)

further information
article at prepaid-wiki.de (German)
discussion at prepaidgsm.net (English)
description of USB-dongle and Tchibo SIM including tariff information
original manual for the USB-dongle sold in December 2008 including some tariff information (German)