In the popular summer series on how to save big time with those exorbitant roaming charges abroad (Swisscom for example wants to charge up to 10.- CHF per MB in for data roaming in Germany) here a travel tip for Germany. 

We recently had a few appointements in Germany. First in Karlsruhe, a sophisticated evening indeed, later in Bonn. For demo purposes we needed an Internet connection. 

A little research later we found this: Congstar Prepaid Internet Stick. Costs 39.99€ incl. currently 10€ connection credit. Each day costs flat 2.49€. 

Where to buy: Online (takes a few days) or pay a visit to any of the following shops: Real, Kaufland, Müller, Kaufhof (full list here.)

There is just one snag: You need to register the stick. Either by phone or over the Internet. Well the latter you want but don’t have yet and the phone simple is a complete fail. After 10 minutes (again at the high roaming rates) I complete the menus, but no activation. I finally logged into a local WLAN at the station for 3 minutes to complete the registration. 10 Minutes later al set.

Test result on the ICE routes Karlsruhe – Bonn Siegburg – Basel: Works fine on the up train, fine too on the downtrain to Karlsruhe. On the train Karlsruhe – Basel it lost connection south of Offenburg. But then we are in the south…