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Phone,
Internet, Long Distance, & TV
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Well,
where do I start? I guess by saying, you are going to pay for these
services! The phone company here is Telecom. For your regular phone
at home, you pay even to call your neighbor across the street. It
really is not too bad. Your monthly service only starts out at like
about $15, and then whatever you use, it adds more to it. It adds up!
Believe me..........
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We
have our Internet service through T-online (phone company). We have
found them to be the best company to deal with. They just bill your
Internet on your phone bill. They are also offering the ISDN service
if you are familiar with that. Cable Modem is also available in some
areas. There are other internet services, but I am not sure what they
are charging. I will try and find out and post it here. T-online
prices listed below. 9/05 - in our new house off base, we have DSL.
After the initial setup fees, the monthly fee is about 40 per month.
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Long
distance is about 4.5 cents a minute.
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There
are also codes that you can dial before making your phone call that
will save you money.......this one is like 3 cents a minute! To call
back to the states: dial 01081-001-area code-phone #
Television
On base, you
can get AFN through cable. You get about 6 channels total. Click
here for the website for AFN. Off base, you can get TV with a satellite.
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Joe's
Satellite
- Professional satellite installation and service
-- We have over twenty years experience serving you, our valued
customers. We offer packages to fit any budget and bring to you such
diverse options as: CNN, Fox, Cartoon Network, Discovery, History,
National Geographic, Paramount, Sci-Fi, Hallmark; plus Movies,
Sports, Soaps and much much more! He offers AFN,
Sky, & More. Let him know you found him from my site.
Info
for Spangdahlem/Bitburg
Areas
You
can get TKS phone and DSL just about anywhere but they make you pay
for the router and the price goes up if you want faster DSL. You can
also go through a place called T-Punkt in Bitburg for your phone and
internet (which I recommend). Phone is a flat rate of 30 Euro a
month, to call to the states it is 3.7 cents a minute anytime of day
and you have free nights starting at 6pm until 7am to call inside
Germany. The DSL is also a flat rate of 30 Euro a month and they give
you the highest speed your phone line will handle. They also give you
a free wireless router!!! - Submitted by
Joel Astore 4/06
6/29/07 - ATTENTION NEWCOMERS:
Keep
this in mind for when you &/or your spouse arrives in Germany,
signs for housing and is ready to get phone/internet service started.
It REALLY HELPS if you get the name of the previous tenant. If moving
on-post, usually the housing office has no problem providing such
information. If moving off-post of course the release of such
information is at the discretion of your new landlord but I think
it's worth asking. This way you acquire previous tenant's phone
number and if the phone jacks are in working condition (sometimes
jacks are painted over &/or the contractors damage them during
remodeling) your phone service can be up & running as soon as 2-5
days max. Depending on the provider, this can even help you save
money on installation/connection fees. Another alternative to TKS
service (middle-man which goes thru Deutsch Telekom) is venturing
off-post to any store with the name T-Punkt, finding someone who
speaks English and getting phone/internet service directly with
Deutsch Telekom. I have service directly with Deutsch Telekom but we
got that done via a German Translator at our ACS (we are Army). It's
a service our ACS offers but I know that not all posts/bases do. TKS,
sometimes, has much better deals on calling plans but not always. TKS
sometimes charges a bit more for being the middle-man but on the plus
side at least the bills are in English. http://www.tkscable.com/tkssnap_00875c913ffc307f3935fff810f797fe.htm
But
I seriously recommend all you newcomers do not fear venturing
off-post for alternate choices and possibly better deals. This is
also true for cell phones. While sometimes TKS has cheap deals on
pre-paid cell phones they tend to run out quickly and will not
re-stock for months as they want to sell their expensive cellular
phone models instead. I got me a very basic pre-paid cell phone (no
camera, but it has text msg capability which I use A LOT) for about
35 Euros and that came with about 10 Euros worth of prepaid minutes
ready to use.
FYI,
cell phones are called "handy" in German.
The
objective is to get phone/internet service up & running as
quickly as possible. And getting a cell phone ASAP doesn't hurt
either. I'm posting this b/c I know not many people know or are told
about this upon their arrival. My neighbor just reminded me about
this as she was just having a conversation with some newcomers who
were registering their child at the HS (she's the Registrar) and
inevitably the subject came up when she asked them for their contact
info. That is when they proceeded to tell her how frustrating &
slow (time consuming) it has been to get phone/internet service. They
PCS'd here from Korea and they were not told about the tip of getting
previous tenants full name for quicker service. I know there is
nothing more frustrating than not being able to call back
"home" or staying in touch with spouses stuck back at
previous duty station. It's a shame but newcomer briefings really
need to be updated or welcome wagon groups should really share this
information. However, I do also believe that people need to ask
questions and go out & seek it. ACS is a great #1 stop upon
arrival & their Relocation Personnel are usually very helpful.
Not everyone manages to get a Sponsor and even when they do, they
don't always know how to help with every situation. I am very
conscious of the fact that venturing off-post may not be as easy for
everyone depending on whether or not they have a vehicle or can find
someone who knows the area well to take them to the nearest off-post
business/shopping area. I very well know one feels very disoriented
and overwhelmed upon arrival but..... this is why every tid-bit of
information one can learn about in advance can turn out to be very
helpful down the line.
Regardless,
I hope these tips comes in handy (the American meaning for handy hehehe)!
Submitted
by Joana 6/29/07 ~ Danke Joana! |
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