Looking for the best price for internet, phone or cable TV providers in Germany?
Well, this can be confusing.
Especially when you are new to this country as I was many years ago.
In this article, I am providing you with the essential information regarding the internet, phone, and cable TV costs.
Topics in this article
How much does the internet cost in Germany? >>
Internet providers in Germany and DSL connections >>
Should I take DSL or cable connection? >>
Comparison website for best internet providers >>
Costs of getting a mobile phone contract in Germany? >>
Should I also take a fixed phone line? >>
How to find the best mobile phone providers in Germany? >>
Comparison website for mobile providers explained >>
Cost of cable TV in Germany? >>
Which TV stations are available for cable TV in Germany? >>
How to find the best plan for cable TV in Germany? >>
How much does the internet cost in Germany?
The costs for your internet connection highly depend on the type of connection and the data transfer speed you would like to get in the best cases.
There are three standard technologies:
- DSL (based on phone lines)
- Glasfaser DSL (fiber optics technology)
- and internet-based on cable connections
Phone lines / DSL is the oldest technology used for the internet.
Maybe you remember when you had dial-in connections with old modems using the landline in your house.
On the other hand, cable TV is not the newest technology but has one significant advantage:
The amount of data sent through a cable TV connection is much more significant than with phone lines.
The newest technology would be Glasfaser DSL.
This does not necessarily mean that this technology always is faster.
I explain the reason below.
Regarding the internet costs, cable.co.uk recently released a worldwide study of broadband speed costs.
In this study Germany is positioned on position 36 regarding the average broadband speed.
Pricing-wise, German broadband users do have to pay around 34 Euros for that type of connection.
Good to know: Internet providers and DSL connections
There is one topic I’d like to cover here: fiber optics-based DSL connections.
Don’t be worried. The good thing is, compared to my situation many years ago, there is a great comparison website* in Germany.
It helps you choose the best tariffs for all three services.
More on that later in this article.
Fiber optics DSL connection is not available everywhere
According to Breitabandatlas, only about 35% of Germany will have access to fiber optics-based DSL connections by the end of 2022.
For example, my district will most likely be connected to fiber optics-based DSL no sooner than 2026.
The caveat will still be the last mile connection
Almost every house does have a phone line and a cable connection.
However, you can not always be sure that the connections and cables within the house match high-speed internet technologies.
Many older apartments and houses have copper-based cables and no fiber optics-based phone lines.
So as you might have already guessed:
Even if your house is already connected to fiber optics connections, you will not necessarily feel any different from a regular DSL connection.
Because your house does not have the required, updated lines.
So choosing a “Glasfaser DSL” connection is not always the best choice.
Should I take DSL or cable connection?
In general, there is one rule: cable connections offer higher speeds than DSL connections.
While cable connections were only used for TV and radio in earlier times, it is also used for phone and internet connections.
So if you need high-speed internet connections, the cable should be your first choice.
Suppose you do have fiber optics DSL available in your house or apartment.
And you are, in addition to that, also sure that the cables in your home are up to this standard.
In that case, you might want to consider using fiber optics DSL instead of a cable connection.
Internet-based fiber optics can be as fast as the internet based on cable connections.
But, for regular internet connections, DSL is the best choice most of the time.
You will find various providers in Germany that offer good connections speeds that are enough for general purposes.
Explained: Comparison website for best internet providers in Germany
I wish I could compare prices when I first moved to Germany with my wife many years ago as quickly as it is now.
The easiest way to find the best internet provider in Germany would be to go to the Verivox* website.
There you can start the comparison of existing DSL providers in Germany.
Enter your main selection criteria
First, you need to enter the area code/prefix 1) “Ihre Vorwahl” of your address. Usually, one city only has one area code, 030 for Berlin or 089 for Munich.
In a second step, please choose your desired connection speed at 2) “Geschwindigkeit auswählen”, either
- 16 Mbit/s
- 50 Mbit/s
- 100 Mbit/s
- or up to 250 Mbit/s.
As soon as you make your selection for 1) and 2), you can click on the button that says “Jetzt vergleichen” (compare now) at 3).
Tariffs overview for internet providers on Verivox*
On the following page, you get an overview of all available tariffs that are available for your area code.
Within the sidebar on the left 1), you can still adjust your desired internet connection.
For example, you can
- choose a different desired speed 2) “Tarifgeschwindigkeit”
- change the option whether you’d like to have internet connection only or include a landline and/or TV 3),
- choose whether you do have a cable connection in your house or apartment
- and some additional options
Enter your exact address
On the top 4) you can enter more detailed information regarding your address like
- your zip code “Postleitzahl”
- town/city “Ort,”
- Street “Straße”
- and house number “Nr.”
As soon as you enter that information, please click on “Standort prüfen” (check location).
Verifox can then show only the available tariffs for your specific address.
Recommendations from Verivox* and all tariffs
Below that, you will find the tariff recommendations from Verivox 5).
Further down below 6), you can find all tariffs that would be available for your location based on the criteria you entered previously.
What are the costs of getting a mobile phone contract in Germany?
Getting a mobile phone contract or “Handyvertrag” in Germany would be again not that easy if you could not rely on tariff comparison websites like Verivox*.
My wife and I recommended the Verivox* tariff comparison website to many of our friends already.
They were happy with their new mobile phone contract.
How do the costs vary among mobile providers?
The costs usually vary between mobile provider Germany. And also between different options you might consider choosing.
For example, tariffs, where calls within the EU are free or certain countries are included in the monthly credit, can be more expensive.
Also, connection speed and the included data can be pretty expensive.
What to take into account when getting a mobile phone contract in Germany?
When getting a mobile phone contract you might want to think about:
- your daily internet usage
- whether you are using any specific messenger, social media, music, video, or gaming apps
- how often you use your phone for calling
Some tariffs offer a local landline phone number alongside your mobile phone contract within your area code.
That way, you’d be available under a local landline number as well with your cellphone.
One study from bitkom shows that Germany – compared by international standards – offers the cheapest tariffs with low costs.
Tariffs can start at around 5 Euros per month for low-end tariffs and go up to 80 euros per month for heavy users.
If you choose a tariff with a “free” cellphone on top, those tariffs may show additional charges.
Should I also take a fixed phone line?
Having a fixed phone line depends on your tariff for your landline.
I have a cell phone tariff that includes a fixed phone line in Germany. So I don’t have to pay anything extra on top of my internet provider.
That way, I do have one local number with my area code.
It might be more convenient for some of you to have a fixed phone line at home, with some stationary phones.
If you’d rather have it that way, make sure you find an Internet plan that includes the aforementioned option of a landline.
How to find the best mobile providers with a comparison website?
There is an easy way to find the best mobile providers in Germany with the help of Verivox*.
Depending on what kind of tariff you are looking for, you will find the best choice of a mobile provider in Germany on their comparison website.
Verivox comparison website for mobile providers explained
As soon as you open the comparison website offered by Verivox*, you should make sure that you are entering the initial information to start comparing the tariffs of mobile providers in Germany.
Choose the type of tariff and contract duration
First, choose which purpose you’d like to use the mobile tariff.
At 1) “Handytarif” you will find all tariffs with or without a cellphone included.
You can choose at 2) “Vertragslaufzeit” whether you’d like to have a tariff with a contract period of one or 24 months.
Most of the time, contracts with a longer contract period may be cheaper than those with only one month.
Data volume and 5G
Regarding the high-speed data volume that should be included, please choose 3) “Datenvolumen”.
If you are looking for high-speed internet tariffs with a 5G connection, please make sure that you check the checkbox at 4) “Nur Tarife mit 5G”.
When you are finished, click on the compare now button at 5) where it says “Jetzt vergleichen”.
Need internet in Germany only?
If you’d like to choose a specific tariff that covers your internet usage only, choose “Mobiles Internet” at 6).
After that, you will be forwarded to the next page that allows you to compare all available tariffs based on the selections you made previously.
Detailed comparison of the tariffs for mobile providers in Germany
On the left side menu 1) that says “Filtereinstellungen”, you can change and choose between different filter settings to define your search even better.
I will cover two important things that you might want to change.
As a standard-setting, Verivox sets your selection automatically to a phone flat tariff at 2) “Inklusivminuten” and “Telefon-Flat”.
Which means you can call for free any landline or cellphone number within Germany.
No matter how long you are talking.
Choosing the internet speed
At 3) “Datengeschwindigkeit” you can choose your desired download speed that you’d like to get whenever you are downloading anything outside of an available WLAN network.
Overview of the tariffs for mobile providers in Germany
You can see all available tariffs on the right based on your selection.
As you can see, tariffs can start low at 5,12 Euros per month.
Even if most established and more significant providers are more expensive than the cheaper ones, I would recommend choosing big ones like T-Mobile, Vodafone, or Telefonica (formerly called O2).
They have great coverage across Germany and worldwide, and you become a customer of the network provider itself.
After finding the best tariff for you, click on “zum Anbieter” (further on to the provider).
Start entering your details like address, bank account, etc., to get your tariff at your desired start date.
Cost of cable TV in Germany
Cable TV in Germany is still a standard, even if newer technologies like TV via the internet or TV via satellite connection are rising.
As you might have guessed, there is one advantage to cable TV.
You can watch TV independent of your internet connection (so you are not consuming any bandwidth). And the connection is as stable as it can be compared to satellite-based TV.
A cable TV connection can cost roughly 15 and 30 Euros per month depending on a few things like:
- quality of TV transmission (HD)
- the number of channels you can watch,
- and additional options like phone and internet connectivity – so-called triple-play tariffs
In Germany, you have only one provider to choose from, Vodafone (formerly Kabel Deutschland and Kabel BW).
You will always need a cable box for a genuine cable TV connection.
If you want to include Netflix, the costs for your tariff may go up to roughly 41 Euros per month.
Which TV stations are available for cable TV?
There are many different TV stations available for cable TV in Germany, to be precise, 277 different channels.
Of course, some duplicates are included, with or without HD quality.
Standard tariffs usually include:
- 96 channels in SD quality
- 74 of them are free of charge
- and 27 additional HD channels are also free
The rest of the channels are only included in the premium or premium plus package. This adds another 35 channels in total.
State TV stations in Germany
Some examples:
or BR
State TV stations are always included in every package.
Private TV stations
The major private TV stations in Germany are are:
The number of private TV stations changes depending on the additional packages or tariffs you choose.
How to find the best plan for cable TV in Germany?
You might think that if there is only one provider for cable TV in Germany that it’s easy to choose. As mentioned previously, there are those triple play tariffs that include high-speed cable internet, landline phone connections, and TV.
To find the best tariff based on your likings, I recommend using Verivox*.
The reason is that prices still vary depending on the internet speed you’d like to have.
So if you head over to the comparison page for cable TV on Verivox*, you can start comparing available triple play tariffs that include internet, phone, and TV in one tariff.
Enter the region where you live, by choosing the area code
Arriving on the comparison site, you have to enter again your area code 1) “Ihre Vorwahl” for your phone line based on the city you live in.
By the way, an overview of all area codes in Germany can be found here on Wikipedia.
Choose the internet speed
Second, you must choose your desired internet connection speed at 2) “Geschwindigkeit auswählen”.
Compare offers
After making your selection, you only need to press the button that says compare now at 3) “Jetzt vergleichen”.
Choosing the existing cable connection
To find the best plan for a triple play tariff that works with your cable connections, make sure you choose in the side menu
1) on the left the option
at 2) that says “Kabelanschluss vorhanden”
If you need a WLAN-Router and you don’t have one yet that is good for cable connections, make sure to check the box at 3) that says “WLAN-Router”.
Choosing a new cable connection
If you are moving to Germany for the first time, you should also make sure to check the box at 4) that says “Neuanschluss”.
This means that you did not have a cable tariff before in Germany.
You can leave that unchecked if you are moving within Germany and have already had a cable tariff before.
After those initial steps, make sure to press the button at 5) that says apply filter “Filter anwenden” to see the best tariffs based on your choices.
Finding the available offers for cable TV in Germany in your area
At 6), where it says “finden Sie alle verfügbaren Tarife für Ihre Adresse” make sure to enter your
- new zip code (Postleitzahl)
- town/city (Ort)
- street (Straße)
- and house number (Nr.)
This is to show only the tariffs that apply for your specific address.
After clicking on “Standort prüfen,” it takes a little while for Verivox to reload the tariff comparison page based on your settings.
Reading the offers for cable TV in Germany
If you scroll down to 7), you will find triple play tariffs provided by Vodafone Kabel Deutschland to choose from.
The price varies at the moment between roughly 42 Euros per month up to 60 Euros per month for all three services included. They vary only because of your internet connection’s upload and download speed.
After clicking on “zum Angebot” (more information on the offer), you can proceed with signing up for your new tariff.
Conclusion
I hope I could provide you with as much information as needed for your new internet, cellphone, and TV tariff in Germany. From my experience, choosing one provider instead of many saves you a lot of time managing different providers and contracts.
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