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Pretty much the same in Germany: http://www.t-mobile.de/iphone/tarife/0,18383,22271-_,00.html

I pay 45 euro per month for my 3GS with unlimited data (yes, there is a throttling after a couple hundred MB/month, but that is completely irrelevant for web/mail etc.), unlimited phone calls and free use of their hotspots. No tethering allowed though.

Blau.de is an ePlus reseller and ePlus is the slowest network in Germany. A lot of areas are still EDGE, many are normal speed UMTS (384kbit/s) and only a few are UMTS/3G. A kind of "official" reseller of eplus is called Simyo. They offer 1 Gig data for € 9,95 valif for a month. If the gig is used up just buy a new card for 10 Euros. No plan whatsover.

o2 is the second of the two smaller providers in Germany. Their coverage ist a bit worse than that of eplus, but in urban areas their network is usuallly faster. o2 has a prepaid plan as well called Fonic. Their rate is 2,50 Euros per day. USB stick costs 60 Euros.

Vodafone and T-Mobile are the two big providers and usually offer the best network coverage and best speed. But they are more expensive. A day with a maximum of 1 Gb costs 4,95 Euros (Vodafone Websessions) or 4,95 ;-) (T-Mobile Websessions). Vodafone has 7 days with 1 Gb data for 9,95 as well.

USB sticks should be no problem. If you buy one at the phone store you'll get them some Euros cheaper, but in most cases they will have a simlock, but you can go to an electronics store and buy one without a simlock. That should be the easiest part ...

After a short check there are no pages in English on their websites (vodafone.nl has them).

As I guess that you prefer getting UMTS, I would advise you to check which provider has got a good signal at the place where you're going. My experience is that if you are not in a city, the provider can make a big difference. There are even many areas where you have no umts signal at all. In general you can get unlimited data plans for all networks for about 20€ per month on a prepaid basis by on of the many resellers (as already mentioned blau.de , my favorite kabeldeutschland.de or all the others).
Here are some maps:
http://t-map.t-mobile.de/tmap/jsp/T-Map.jsp?usergroup=end_user&functionalArea=umts_coverage
http://netmap.vodafone.de/cover4internet/initParams.do;jsessionid=3CF18E6EC4F00AD06FAED35715244F7C.umtsmapi1?windowsSystem=false&nav=true&nav4=false&nav5up=true&IE=false&IE4=false&IE5up=false&initialized=true&appprofile=UMTS-Maps
http://eis03sn1.eplus-online.de/geo/portal/umts

Go ahead:
http://www.t-mobile.de/iphone/

I know that GP is talking about US but take a look at German T-mobile pages and if you use euro to dollar conversion you'll end up with 73/100/130usd per month. That is quite a lot.

Given the recent devaluation of the USD $100 a month isn't going to get you much...

I'm also not sure, but if Europe is anything like Australia with respect to mobile phones incoming calls don't count, so how much of that 700+ minutes is incoming (and hence can be removed from the requirement)?

http://www.t-mobile.de/tarife/0,10821,17773-_647,00.html

I don't know German, but that seems like 1000 minutes for 59 euros - but it's one line and no data. An extra line is 10 euros... which pushes it to just over $100 - still no data. But go back a little to before the USD went down the toilet and you could add the data options for under $100. Since european salaries haven't dropped the 15% the exchange has, and US prices haven't had time to adjust to the more expensive imports it's probably fairer to allow the extra... Or drop back to fewer minutes (as I mentioned I think incoming doesn't count, so maybe the 400 plan would do?

According to a press release by T-Mobile, the iPhone is sold without SIM-lock as of now. German speakers follow this link: http://www.t-mobile.de/unternehmen/presse/pressemitteilungen/1,12219,19688-_,00.html You get one for 399 with a two year contract of for 999 without a contract.

A sign of things to come?

http://www.t-mobile.de/funkversorgung/inland

http://www.vodafone.de/hilfe-support/netz-uebertragung-netzabdeckung/108099.html

http://shop2.o2online.de/nw/produkte/beratung/abdeckung/popup/pageframe.html

http://eis03sn1.eplus-online.de/evportal/portal/umts

Its even worse with T-mobile in germany. Locked for 24 months and you get only 40/150/300 texts which is pathetic.

http://www.t-mobile.de/iphone/addHandset.do?handsetId=99914394

Those plans/tariffs are really expensive:

so you have to pay at least $72 per month, get only 100(!) minutes of free talk, outrageous extra minutes, pitiful 40(!) sms messages and $36 for some Bereitstellungspreis (babel:supply price). True, you get "free" data over slow EDGE.

I just wonder how the owners will feel after a few months when the reality distortion field collapses.

The source is here:

http://www.t-mobile.de/iphone/showTariffs.do

Here in Switzerland (where the prices are generally very high), Orange
In Germany, with T-Mobile, the plans don't charge for incoming calls and are quite competitive.

You did know that different Europeam countries have different tarifs, didn't you? and you did know that no one here charegs you for incoming calls?

Or was this just another yay USA pissing match?

(T-Mobile is a German company, btw)

In the meantime I think cellphone companies could start providing wi-fi access, which they provided at a reduced price (or free) for their customers and at a cost for non-customers. This would reduce the burden on the cellphone networks and potentially provide an extra revenue stream.

Denmark is not the first. It has been available in Germany for a little while now from a company that is also a big U.S. mobile provider. Any idea what the chances are that they will also roll it out in the U.S.? I do :) I believe it has been mentioned here and there on the net in the last few months too. Here is the link to the providers info on the service (In German)- T-Mobile@home

Well since it is by T-Mobile i'm sure it will be part of the same service they have in the US http://www.t-mobile.com/services/hotspot/overview. asp

So around $29.99 a month

Looking around the German site I don't see a monthly package. http://www.t-mobile.de/business/tarife/1,2279,3809 -_,00.html Hopefully that changes

yeah right, the first... the first Sony Ericsson phone that plays mp3s, has a coloured screen and a camera and is named W800i... really inovative indeed...

the T-Mobile SDA or trusty Siemens SL45 must have been figments of our collective imagination...

"Costs are often more than landlines."

That's because landlines are *really cheap* in the US. Qwest provides unlimited, reliable dialtone with unlimited local calls for about $13 around here.

If you actually take the time to compare how much people pay *per minute* on mobile phones in the US, it's actually less than it is in places like Germany or the UK. Compare T-Mobile Germany and T-Mobile USA, for example.

Here's a plan from T-Mobile Germany:

http://www.t-mobile.de/business/relax/1,6243,10532 -_,00.html

500 minutes (inclusive) for 86.21 per month - about $115. This is a "business" plan, but the "personal" plan is 100 per month.

Here's a plan from T-Mobile USA:

http://www.t-mobile.com/plans/NationalRatePlanDeta ils.asp?PlanID=3952

2500 minutes (inclusive) for $100 a month.

Compared to the Germany plan, the US plan:

- Is $15 cheaper
- Offers *five times* more inclusive minutes
- Does not charge for roaming throughout the US (the Germany plan charges for roaming outside of Germany)
- Offers free nighttime calling and free calling on weekends

Compared to the US plan, the Germany plan offers:

- Free incoming calls

"You pay to make AND receive calls."

Yes, but with my free nights/weekends and 2000 extra minutes, I'm not too concerned about being charged for incoming calls.

Oh, and by the way, do you realize why people don't pay to recieve calls on mobiles in Europe?

It's because the person calling pays a lot more than they do in the US. In the US, calling a mobile is just like calling a landline. If it's a local call, it's almost always free. If it's long-distance, it's covered by your long distance plan - often as little as $.05 a minute.

In Europe, calling a mobile phone on a different carrier than your own or calling a mobile phone from a landline can cost 0.25 a minute or more.

Oh, and what about data? T-Mobile USA offers unlimited GPRS for $20 a month (with any voice plan). If you subscribe to their WAP service ("T-Zones"), you can use that APN to get on the internet (albeit with a NAT IP address) for $5 a month. Try to find that in Europe.

Get your facts straight before you start claimin g that US mobile service is more expensive than it is in Europe.

"Competing technologies (CDMA, TDMA, GSM, iDEN)"

iDEN is only used by Nextel. TDMA is used by ATT/Cingular but it is currently being phased out (ATT/Cingular is GSM/GPRS/EDGE).

Really, there are only two serious wireless technologies in the US. GSM, used by T-Mobile and ATT/Cingular, and CDMA2000, used by Sprint PCS and Verizon Wireless.

"Competing technologies" are the reason that CDMA was given a chance. If the US had mandated GSM, it is unlikely that Qualcomm would have ever been able to develop CDMA. And, before you start badmouthing CDMA, consider this: UMTS, the successor to GSM, is based on Qualcomm's CDMA technology.

The Mobile Digital Assistantpage lists two products. One is the MDAI, and the second is the MDAII. The pretty pictures link actually only shows the OLD MDAI model, which still had an external antenna. It is NOT the upcoming MDAIII. I've had the XDAII (same thing as the MDAII, but it's called XDA in the UK for three months now. It's a great product (I love being able to use MSN messenger/IRC from practically anywhere, over a GPRS link, and paying next to nothing [since I'm billed for data transfered and IM/IRC isn't bandwidth intensive]). My only gripe is that its size/weight is a bit larger than standard pocket PCs (then again hardly susprising considering the extra features). WI-FI is the only thing that is missing IMHO, so I am looking forward to the next one.

I read some more info and an original press release. It was posted on www.xda-developers.com (great resourse for MDA/XDA owners). Here are some additional links regarding the upcoming MDAIII:

http://www.t-mobile.net/CDA/tmd_mda_iii,20,,news id -3146,en.html?w=1075&h=847
http://www.mtekk.com.a u/browse/page910.html

The Mobile Digital Assistantpage lists two products. One is the MDAI, and the second is the MDAII. The pretty pictures link actually only shows the OLD MDAI model, which still had an external antenna. It is NOT the upcoming MDAIII. I've had the XDAII (same thing as the MDAII, but it's called XDA in the UK for three months now. It's a great product (I love being able to use MSN messenger/IRC from practically anywhere, over a GPRS link, and paying next to nothing [since I'm billed for data transfered and IM/IRC isn't bandwidth intensive]). My only gripe is that its size/weight is a bit larger than standard pocket PCs (then again hardly susprising considering the extra features). WI-FI is the only thing that is missing IMHO, so I am looking forward to the next one.

I read some more info and an original press release. It was posted on www.xda-developers.com (great resourse for MDA/XDA owners). Here are some additional links regarding the upcoming MDAIII:

http://www.t-mobile.net/CDA/tmd_mda_iii,20,,news id -3146,en.html?w=1075&h=847
http://www.mtekk.com.a u/browse/page910.html

This service is implemented in the exchange, not in the cellphone, so its completely independent of the cellphone brand.

Would be nice if one could get a sound that scares away telemarketers...

These are shooted using nokia 7650 and hantros software. It is a mp4 file, at least realplayer was able to get mp4 codec and play files. http://www.sunpoint.net/~nettinayttely/ www.geocities.com/aatukarri/kuvaa.html
Software was distributed by t mobile in germany. t mobile