SIM card options for Germany
 

I am advising my brother on the best/cheapest mobile service for my 18-year-old nephew to use on a 3-week trip to Germany next month. The stipulation is that they want calls to the states to be cheap. **They already own an unlocked GSM phone.**

Prior to our own trip to the UK last month, I inquired here for the cheapest plans in the UK, and one frequent suggestion was Lebara Mobile. I bought our SIMs before the trip and had them sent to our cottage (if I'd been more on the ball, I would have had them sent here so we'd have known our phone number before we left) so they were there waiting for us. It was nice not having to scramble to find a cellphone dealer, particularly as we went directly from Heathrow to our cottage in the country. Lebara was the perfect plan for us -- calls were super cheap to the states (something like 4 or 6 pence a minute to the States) and free from Lebara to Lebara mobile. (We were travelling with two cellphons, so we got two Lebara SIMs.)

I've already seen that Lebara does not have a presence in Germany. Who would you advise for a plan that is 1. cheap to call to the states 2. has a good deal going (something along the lines of "free SIM with 5 Euro top-up"), 3. Would possibly ship to the states before nephew departs.

If the answer is just "wait until he gets there and stop in a mobile phone dealer anywhere", so be it. But when presenting my brother with some options, it would be nice to have at least one choice where they could buy the SIM in advance.

Many thanks!

I haven't waded through their US prices, but Smobil.com offers 1¢/minute calls between customers within Germany. Their 7.99€ startup SIM contains 10€ call credit.

www.solomo.de
You need a German (or some other EU countries) address to have the card sent to.
Prices to US phones are 9ct/min, incoming free

Thanks for the replies so far. Any other tips?

Any discount SIM from a German supermarket. Calls cost about 10ct or less to German numbers plus an international calling card for callthru. (GoBananas)

ebay #230324977254

Ships to USA, accepts Paypal.
Calls to German landlines 4ct/min, 15ct to USA.
15€ for card and shipping. 5€ on card.

This is the cheapest German SIM for national calls to landlines. Works on E-plus. I've used it all over Europe because of the auto recharge via credit card function.