Germans to get iPhone 3G for ?1

This really stinks for those of us based in Germany, who'll have the 'pleasure' of forking out Roaming and other surcharges when we travel. No-one has really addressed this issue... how much extra we'll have to pay abroad.

I will be in the UK for 6 weeks, S.Africa for 8 weeks and Australia for 4 weeks coming up. We certainly cannot use t-online/t-mobile WiFi out of Germany without a surcharge. What will the 3G extra come to?
Peter

The real costs are in the the hidden service charges and add-ons that during the course of the contract will make up the difference . And in the end the carrier wins. See the article on hidden and long term (2 yr contract) costs. http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/94465 happy hacking:)

Hi all,

I am not sure wether the pricing is completely out of range compared to other markets or not. For me, as a travelling consultant, the L (69€) or even XL (89€) options could be interesting, but I need to get more info about plans for international roaming on those contracts.

My current German provider E-Plus would offer real flat for 3G data (25€) + Voice (20€ incl. 60 minutes to other providers or 60€ full flat for all networks).

So I am really interested if the phone would work on the frequencies used by the other providers.

Apples specs say: UMTS/HSDPA (850, 1900, 2100 MHz)

While the T-Mo in network Germany uses:

1.900,1 - 1.905,1 Downlink Group 3G
1.905,1 - 1.910,1 Downlink MobilCom
1.910,1 - 1.915,1 Downlink T-Mobile
1.915,1 - 1.920,1 Downlink Vodafone D2
1.920,3 - 1.930,2 Uplink Vodafone D2
1.930,3 - 1.940,2 Uplink Group 3G
1.940,3 - 1.950,2 Uplink e-plus
1.950,0 - 1.959,9 Uplink MobilCom
1.959,9 - 1.969,8 Uplink O2
1.969,8 - 1.979,7 Uplink T-Mobile
1.980,0 - 2.010,0 Satelliten Uplink noch in Planung
2.019,7 - 2.024,7 Downlink e-plus
2.110,3 - 2.120,2 Downlink Vodafone D2
2.120,2 - 2.130,1 Downlink Group 3G
2.130,1 - 2.140,0 Downlink e-plus
2.140,0 - 2.149,9 Downlink MobilCom
2.149,9 - 2.159,8 Downlink O2
2.159,8 - 2.169,7 Downlink T-Mobile

So, are the specs describing a corridor of frequencies or will T-Mobile switch the whole structure of freqs in order to serve the 3g iPhone in Germany ? (I highly doubt that).

Now, back to the topic - what is missing in the post, is a clear statement in the FAQ of T-Mobile on activation:

"How does the iPhone get activated? Via iTunes" ... see here http://www.t-mobile.de/iphone/faq.jsp.

So however it works to get them without a contract, but we will not see queues in shops to get them activated - at least in Germany.

Cheers
A.

Correction:
I'm sorry - the 500 MB / Month is indeed granted for the full 24 month contract length as long as you order within the first three months.
Afterwars, it will be only 100 MB / Month.

Well, the german plans are indeed far from ideal. Still I think they are not as bad as a lot of people think they are. First of all, the most expensive plan with the 1 Euro iPhone has 1000 minutes for voice calls and hundreds of SMS included (here in germany flat rates are available, but are still not as common as they might be elsewhere). Plus you get free voice calls on weekends. This might still be expensive, but I think the 2000-something Euros are not entirely correct.
I ordered the cheapest plan: 500MB data (no throttling), 50 minutes voice calls included, free on weekends, 29 Euro/month, 169 Euro for the iPhone. No flatrate for the T-online wireless hotspots, but I have that already anyway. I'm pretty sure 500MB is more than enough for me. And probably for many others.

as leon said, the german t-mobile plans suck.
in case there are plans form vodafone or other carriers which are much cheaper. even vodafone is providing the better and faster 3g-network...
so i will go for holiday to italy in july, pay off 569€ (which would be the same prize with a 10 months t-mobile-plan instead off 24 months) for the plan-free iphone and use my existing vodafone-plan on it...
thanks t-mobile...

2G iPhone 8GB going for 1 € !! With low plan at 29 € monthly..

PS: Vodafone Italia has published a first page outlining the cost of the phone in case of pre-paid - 8GB version for 499€ and the 16GB version for 569€. And that is REALLY expesive compared also to all the other offers out there from Nokia & etc. So much for the "more affordable" statement.
http://iphone.vodafone.it/?tk=9616%2Cc&ty_key=iphone.vodafone.it

69€/month means 1656€/2 years - that is the oveall TOC for the duration of the contract - this is 56€ more that the 1600€ needed with the cheapest plan when the iPhone first came out last year - and this, not considering all the limitations of the plan and the high phone rates as mentioned in the other comments.
(more details of the older offer here: http://tisvernicio.vox.com/library/post/nooo---i-am-not-getting-it.html)

Moreover, for some odd reason, the iPhone will be, supposedly, available in Italy, e.g., from 2 operators (Telecom Italia and Vodafone), while in Germany we are stuck with T-Mobile only.

And.... I am going to pass on this one as well - I have better things to do with my money... And the point is that people buy the iPhone with these terrible plans!!!

T-Mobile didn't announce the final upgrade offer yet, they said this will be announced before july 1st. But even if you pay 180 euros it's not so bad. I.e. if you want a new HTC from O2 during before the end of you're contract this will set you back more than triple the price, in germany it's not usual that you get more than one phone while your contract lasts.