Subject: [96attendees] SIM Card Success

From: Glen <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2016 14:23:46 -0700

All

My apologies for the noise, and my apologies if this has already been
resolved, but I don't see any recent messages about this topic, beyond the
earlier questions several days ago.

I just wanted to report that I had success purchasing a SIM card at Tegel
airport in Berlin.

I went to the store shown in the attached picture. There was a person
working there who spoke flawless English, and understood exactly what I
wanted.

He sold me a Blau sim card kit, for 19.99 euros, which includes 20 local
voice minutes, and one gigabyte of data, good for 30 days. Before I even
asked, he informed me that the card was pre-activated, and that no
interaction with the carrier was necessary. He even offered to install the
SIM in my device.

Upon installing the SIM, it activated immediately, auto-configured the
appropriate APN, and I was online with high-speed internet.

This is not an official endorsement, just a personal one, but I wanted to
report that it was quite easy to purchase the SIM, and quite easy to
activate, and everything seems to be working. Save your paperwork, and the
SIM card holder, because by default the SIM card is locked with a 4-Digit
pin.

The store is located in the main hall of the airport, outside of security,
just across from the BVG bus ticket store. A photo is attached for your
convenience.

Also, as a USA T-Mobile customer, I can confirm that my T-mobile USA phones
and tablets are operating with high speed data, without any additional
action on my part (other than needing to reboot my device is upon arrival
in Berlin.)

I warn T-Mobile customers, however, that this privilege applies only to
postpaid, credit checked T-Mobile accounts. Prepaid lines, and the simple
choice no credit check plan, are not eligible for international roaming and
will not bind.

I hope everyone finds this information helpful.

Thanks,
Glen

---

From: [email-masked]
Date: 15 Jul 2016 00:07:48 -0000

>interaction with the carrier was necessary. He even offered to install the

Cool.  For those of us not arriving by air, does anyone know of a place
to buy them near the meeting?

R's,
John

---

From: Ted Lemon <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2016 20:17:02 -0400

There is a DT store near the venue, past the Gedächtniskirche on ku-damm. I
was able to get a sin card there last time.

On Jul 14, 2016 20:08, <[email-masked]> wrote:

> _______________________________________________
> 96attendees mailing list
> [email-masked]
> https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/96attendees
>

---

From: Zhen Cao <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2016 11:10:40 +0800

Per my experience, I would suggest to order online prepaid sim card
and send to the hotel before arrival.

I tried blau.de, there you can find 1GB per month for 9.99, and you
can specify the type of the sim card.

---

From: Stefan Winter <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2016 08:12:33 +0200

> Gedächtniskirche on ku-damm. I was able to get a sin card there last
> time.
>

Kind of evil-logical that you can get sin cards near churches; treating
sinners is their core business after all. Do they also sell matching
salvation cards?

(SCNR)

Stefan

>
> On Jul 14, 2016 20:08, <[email-masked]
> <mailto:[email-masked]>> wrote:
>
>     [email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]>

-- 
Stefan WINTER
Ingenieur de Recherche
Fondation RESTENA - Réseau Téléinformatique de l'Education Nationale et de la Recherche
2, avenue de l'Université
L-4365 Esch-sur-Alzette

Tel: +352 424409 1
Fax: +352 422473

PGP key updated to 4096 Bit RSA - I will encrypt all mails if the recipient's key is known to me

http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xC0DE6A358A39DC66

---

From: Keith Mitchell <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2016 05:20:07 -0400

FWIW, on landing at FRA this AM, my T-Mobile US phone just told me that
for July and August, 4G data roaming to T-Mobile DE is unlimited and free.

Certainly I seem to be getting full HSPA+ 3G speeds rather than the
usual TMo US roaming freebie 2G speeds, however no sign of any of the
claimed included in this promotion "up to 4G LTE speeds" coverage yet
(may need to swap phones).

Keith

---

From: Keith Mitchell <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2016 10:39:01 -0400

On 07/15/2016 05:20 AM, Keith Mitchell wrote:
> FWIW, on landing at FRA this AM, my T-Mobile US phone just told me
> that for July and August, 4G data roaming to T-Mobile DE is unlimited
> and free.
> 
> usual TMo US roaming freebie 2G speeds, however no sign of any of
> the claimed included in this promotion "up to 4G LTE speeds" coverage
> yet

Looks like my 2-year old phone is just a bit confused about what
wireless tech it is using - even though it says "3G', it is picking up
at least some LTE bands, and am getting 60B/s downlink :-)

Keith

---

From: Ted Lemon <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2016 11:57:11 -0400

I just picked up another Telekom sim card. 20 euros, 500mb. Not a great
deal, but I didn't want to waste time doing more shopping.   Service works
well. The lady who sold it to me spoke excellent English.

---

From: Erik Nygren <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2016 12:17:52 -0400

I've been successfully getting 4G speeds from T-Mobile US with their free
roaming (looks like onto Telekom.de).
I even get IPv6 connectivity from my Android phone if I configure an "APN
roaming protocol" for "IPv4/IPv6".

       Erik

---

From: Mikael Abrahamsson <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2016 18:59:01 +0200 (CEST)

On Sat, 16 Jul 2016, Ted Lemon wrote:

> deal, but I didn't want to waste time doing more shopping.  Service 
> works well. The lady who sold it to me spoke excellent English.

I heard someone else say that they did stick this into their Android phone 
(prepaid card from Telekom DE), and the automatically configured APN was 
IPv4 only. The person then manually changed APN, and then got dual stack.

I'd be interested in more reports like this, because I'm trying to get 
this fixed and want to understand if this happen to everybody.

Deutsche Telekom (DTAG / Telekom) mobile network should be dual stack for 
most modern devices, and if it's not, I'd like to get it fixed.

Feel free to email me offline with reports.

-- 
Mikael Abrahamsson    email: [email-masked]

---

From: Toerless Eckert <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2016 10:28:52 -0700

Is there any good "APN FAQ" ? I would love to understand better how
the phone selects the APN(s)) it tries. Are there any APNs stored on the
SIM itself, or is the list of APNs to try solely in the phone/client-device ?

 I just had trouble with an ATT prepaid card which i could make work in
 a router nor 4.4.4 cyanogen android, and everybody told me to use APN "broadband".
 ultimately i could make it work with APN "nxtgenphone". Worst part was that
 "broadband" looked as if data connection was there (aka: symbol for 3G on),
 but didn't get an IP address. Unlike other APNs i tried where '3G' never came up.
 Aka: confusing diagnostics, only way to figure out solution is exhaustive trial and
 error. Who the heck did standardize this APN mess ? Somebody who hates users
 or some security fetishish "error diagnostics are attack vectors.." ? *sigh*

-- 
---
Toerless Eckert, [email-masked]

---

From: Ole Jacobsen <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2016 20:30:51 +0200

APN Voodo is just that. Sometimes stored in SIM, sometimes delivered over air, sometimes requiring manual config. And you thought the IETF had weird standards...

Ole J. Jacobsen
Editor & Publisher
The Internet Protocol Journal
Cell: +1 415 370-4628
docomo: (090) 3337 9311
http://protocoljournal.org

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 16, 2016, at 19:28, Toerless Eckert <[email-masked]> wrote:
>

---

From: Dmitry Kohmanyuk <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2016 00:37:02 +0200

> APN Voodo is just that. Sometimes stored in SIM, sometimes delivered over air, sometimes requiring manual config. And you thought the IETF had weird standards...

For those who use iOS (iphone, ipad) there is a handy site unlockit.co.nz. It asks you for country and carrier and then creates a profile (saved under Preferences / General, bottom of the list, below VPN). This locks APN regardless of SIM card, which may or may not be useful.

Remember, there are actually two APNs on 4G phones, one for 2G:UMTS:3G and another for LTE. By default the latter is the same but there are situations when they are different. 

And yes, somebody has to fix this.

---

From: Michael Richardson <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2016 03:50:46 -0400

> working there who spoke flawless English, and understood exactly what I

Ditto!

    > He sold me a Blau sim card kit, for 19.99 euros, which includes 20
    > local voice minutes, and one gigabyte of data, good for 30 days.
    > Before I even asked, he informed me that the card was pre-activated,
    > and that no interaction with the carrier was necessary. He even offered
    > to install the SIM in my device.

I have the same.

--
Michael Richardson <[email-masked]>, Sandelman Software Works
 -= IPv6 IoT consulting =-

---

From: Keith Mitchell <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2016 03:51:51 -0400

Not for APN info, and not perfect, but for negotiating the hairball that
is LTE frequency-band matching between handset/carrier/country/roaming,
I found http://www.frequencycheck.com/ fairly useful, FWIW.

Keith

>> APN Voodo is just that. Sometimes stored in SIM, sometimes 
>> delivered over air, sometimes requiring manual config. And you 
>> thought the IETF had weird standards...
> 
> For those who use iOS (iphone, ipad) there is a handy site 
> unlockit.co.nz. It asks you for country and carrier

---

From: "Short, Todd" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2016 17:05:58 +0000

Vodafone reportedly had a decent local SIM:

http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Euro7

There's a Vodafone store not too far away from the Intercontinental. 

--
-Todd Short
// Sent from my iPhone
// "One if by land, two if by sea, three if by the Internet."

> On Jul 17, 2016, at 09:52, Keith Mitchell <[email-masked]> wrote:
>

---

From: Tom Pusateri <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2016 20:35:19 +0200

> There's a Vodafone store not too far away from the Intercontinental.

This page says it auto-renews every 28 days. That makes it sound like you can't just pay cash but must set up an account.

It seemed as though in the initial post with the Blau SIM you could just pay cash and not create any accounts.

Tom

---

From: "Short, Todd" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 17 Jul 2016 19:11:00 +0000

It's prepaid, so you shouldn't have to give credit card info, or anything. The account is required because all SIMs in Germany need to be registered for anti-terrorism/crime. At least that's what I got out of it. 

But that link was primarily for buying a SIM in Germany and roaming throughout the EU. 

Here's more general info on German SIMs:

http://prepaid-data-sim-card.wikia.com/wiki/Germany

I currently have a Spain Orange SIM that will run out of credit tomorrow... (Spain also requires registration). 

> On Jul 17, 2016, at 20:35, Tom Pusateri <[email-masked]> wrote:
>

---

From: Tom M Kroeger <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2016 22:38:26 +0200

As another data point I forgot to get a sim card at the airport.  This eve
I found T-Mobile down the street from the hotel and they were sold out of
pre-paid sim cards.  I went to Saturn (electronics reseller) and they sold
me 2 O2 sim cards for 10E (buy one get the second one free).  Each card has
750MB on it and 10e worth of talk time.

I haven't tested it heavily but it seemed to work OK in my Nexus 4.

       Tom MK

--
Tom M Kroeger
415-891-7765 google / 831-325-4186 mobile

On Sat, Jul 16, 2016 at 8:30 PM, Ole Jacobsen <[email-masked]> wrote:

> APN Voodo is just that. Sometimes stored in SIM, sometimes delivered over
> air, sometimes requiring manual config. And you thought the IETF had weird
> standards...
>
> Ole J. Jacobsen
> Editor & Publisher