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

• "Internet-Tages-Flatrate" a dayflat for € 2.95/calendar day, throttled to 64 KBit/s after exceeding 1000MB/day
• "Internet Flatrate L" a monthly flatrate for € 9.95/30 days, throttled to 64 KBit/s after exceeding 500MB
• "Internet Flatrate XL" a monthly flatrate for € 19.95/30 days, throttled to 64 KBit/s after exceeding 5000MB (note: Lidl mobile offer the same tariff on the same network for just € 14.95/30 days)

These tariffs are available to all Tchibo SIMs, wether sold with a USB modem or separately.




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 supports HSDPA with at least 3,6 MBit/s (most sites 7,2 MBit/s) and HSUPA with up to 1,45 MBit/s.

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.
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 € 29.95 (In April 2012 for € 19.95 including a free one-month-subscription of "Internet Flatrate L"*) . The USB-modem is a netlocked Huawei E173 with a customized version of "Mobile Partner" (dashboard software) in it's flash memory, which supports credit management.
* When registering the SIM card online, there was also an option for a free one-month-subscription of Internet Flatrate XL. (April 2012)

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
• 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#
• if you use a "Tchibo Internet Stick" under Windows:
  • start Mobile Partner
  • click the "Guthaben verwalten" button
  • click "Guthabenkarte aufladen"
    
    
  • now enter the code from your topup voucher in the "Aufladenummer" field and click OK
    
  • after a few seconds a confirmation message should be displayed in the "Ergebnis" field.

data options
There are three data options available:

• "Internet-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)
• "Internet Flatrate L", a flatrate for € 9.95 valid for 30 days (after exceeding 500MB within a billing period speed will be throttled to 64 KBit/s)
• "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. The SIM can also be activated online after purchasing. If bought online, the SIM should be delivered activated.


activation 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#
  • press 2 for "Option buchen"
  • press 5 for "weitere"
  • again, press 5for "weitere"
  • press 2for "Internet Flatrate XL"
  • press 1to confirm
• or by SMS:
  • send a text message to 7777 containing "START TAGFLAT" for the dayflat or
  • send a text message to 7777 containing "START DATENFLAT2" for the Internet Pack L or
  • send a text message to 7777 containing "START DATENFLAT" for the Internet Pack XL

However subscription by SMS sometimes fails due to 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 USSD-menu (*104#) or 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 monthly flatrates are valid for 30 days from the activation date
• subscriptions of the monthly flatrates will recur as long as there is enough credit left. To stop a subscription send a
  
  • SMS to 7777 containing "STOP DATENFLAT2" to cancel the Internet Pack L or
  • SMS to 7777 containing "STOP DATENFLAT" to cancel the Internet Pack XL
  The dayflat will end automatically at 23:59.

• 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 ("Status")

important to know

• Billing increments of data options: 400KB
• Price per MB without data option activated: € 0,24/MB (billed in 400KB-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 7,2 MBit/s. Few sites do support only 3,6 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. T-Mobile is enforcing their T&Cs and VoIP (e.g. Skype) is blocked.
    
  • 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
tariff information at tchibo.de (German)
article at prepaid-wiki.de (German)
discussion at prepaidgsm.net (English)
December 2008 including some tariff information (German)