Mobile internet is no longer a novelty, and with the advent of the iPhone, it’s on everyone’s lips and highly sought after. However, if you look beyond your own borders and compare the prices for mobile internet access with those in other European countries, you’ll be amazed. We’re willing to pay top prices and continue to be talked into uncomfortably long contract plans. The specter of “license fees” still looms.
However, in recent months, more and more resellers (i.e., resellers of tariffs from major network operators) have been pushing down tariff prices and offering mobile internet without a contract .
So-called prepaid internet, like the network operators’ contract plans, is available in the UMTS version with up to 3600 Mbit/s, as well as in the HSDPA high-speed internet version with up to 7200 Mbit/s. However, you should carefully examine and compare the offers. Firstly, not everything that looks prepaid at first glance actually is. Some resellers offer contract plans that include the option to cancel every four weeks. This isn’t necessarily the worst option, but it’s not prepaid in the traditional sense.
Offers like this one from Fonic seem somewhat more attractive here, as the daily flat rate offers a fair, transparent, and flexible way to surf the web on your mobile. But even here, you have to look closely, because Fonic’s offer is limited by data volume and therefore not suitable for gamers or YouTube fans. Once the data volume is used up (1 GB in Fonic’s case), you are downgraded to a very slow internet connection, namely EDGE with 386 KB. While this is sufficient for email and research, it is not enough to fully enjoy the service. Basically, they are moving in the right direction. Compared to other European countries, however, we, or rather the network operators and resellers, still have a lot to do.