Get a SIM and internet

To activate a prepaid SIM, the provider must verify your details. For home internet, compare the contract term, price and activation date before you sign.

In short

• Before a prepaid line is activated, the provider must verify subscriber details. Verification can use a qualifying identity document or an eligible electronic identity function; it does not always require visually checking a photo.
• The prepaid identity check is national; an Anmeldung certificate is not a universal statutory SIM requirement. For covered consumer phone/internet contracts, section 56 caps the initial term at 24 months and requires an offer with a term no longer than 12 months. Prices differ by provider.
• For home internet, read the minimum term and the notice period before you sign. Agree an activation date with the provider. The previous tenant’s contract does not move to you.
• If electricity or gas is not included in the rent, that is a separate contract. Sign one rather than assuming basic supply is the tariff you wanted.
• Deregistering at the population register does not cancel a telecom contract. Send notice in the way the contract requires.

What you need to know

Section 172 of the Telecommunications Act tells providers what they must record before they activate a number-based interpersonal service, including a mobile line: the number, the name and address of the subscriber, and, for a natural person, the date of birth. For a prepaid mobile service the provider must verify the name, address, and date of birth before activation, to the extent those details appear in the identity documents or registers used for the check.

The statute lists, among other documents, a German identity card (Personalausweis), a passport, another official photo identity document that satisfies the domestic identity duty, a residence title, and certain asylum and toleration papers.

Section 7(2) of the Telecommunications and Digital Services Data Protection Act also permits electronic identity proof under the identity-card, eID-card and residence-title rules. The Bundesnetzagentur explains that this can be used to verify prepaid subscriber details without a visual check of the physical card. Check the provider’s process and the requirements for the method you use.

For ordinary consumer mobile and home-internet service contracts covered by section 56, the initial term cannot exceed 24 months and the provider must offer a term of at most 12 months. After a silent renewal beyond the initial term, cancellation is possible at any time on one month’s notice. These are national protections, alongside the prepaid identity check. A provider’s request for an Anmeldung certificate is not a universal statutory requirement for every SIM.

Home internet is a separate contract with a phone and internet provider. Compare offers before you move in. Where the provider offers the service at the new address, section 60 requires activation on the day you expressly agree. Prices vary by provider.

What to do

1. For a prepaid SIM, ask the provider how to complete the required identity check. A passport or residence title is among the documents section 172 names; eligible electronic identity proof is another statutory route. The provider remains responsible for checking subscriber details before activation even if a shop collects the data.
2. Compare the minimum term and price, including the required offer of no more than 12 months. Keep the cancellation terms. After silent renewal beyond the initial term, section 56 allows cancellation on one month’s notice. A contract solely for physical connection construction is a separate statutory exception.
3. For home internet, compare providers and agree an activation date. Ask the landlord which connection is already in the dwelling and whether a technician will need access. Do not assume the previous tenant’s contract moves to you.
4. Before moving, ask whether the contracted service is available at your new address. If it is not, section 60 allows cancellation on one month’s notice, effective at move-out or a later date. Notify the provider early with the new address, move date and requested evidence, and retain confirmation. Leaving Germany does not automatically release every mobile tariff during its initial term. Keep subscriber address details current.
5. If electricity or gas is not included in the rent, that is a third contract. Section 36 of the Energy Industry Act requires the local basic supplier to supply household customers at its published conditions and prices. Under section 2 of the electricity and gas basic-supply ordinances, drawing that energy can itself create the basic-supply contract. Section 20 of each ordinance allows two weeks’ notice. Sign a contract you have chosen rather than assuming the basic supply is the tariff you wanted. The utilities guide explains the fallback-supply exception.

If installation or the connection fails

Report faults to the provider immediately and keep the ticket number, report time, outage diary and appointment confirmations. Cooperate with troubleshooting. If the fault is not cleared within two calendar days after the report, section 58 (3) lets you claim compensation for each further day of a complete outage, unless you are responsible for the outage or for its continuing, or the complete interruption is based on measures laid down in the Telecommunications Act, Regulation (EU) 2015/2120, an order by a security authority, or force majeure. For a contract with a constant monthly fee, the compensation on days 3 and 4 is 5 euros or 10 percent of the monthly fee, whichever is higher, and from day 5 it is 10 euros or 20 percent, whichever is higher. A price reduction claimed under section 57 (4) is set off against that compensation. A missed technician appointment under section 58 (4) is compensated at 10 euros or 20 percent of that monthly fee, whichever is higher, unless you are responsible for the missed appointment. Ask the provider for the payment rather than assuming it arrives without a claim.

For substantially poor speed, use the regulator’s prescribed Breitbandmessung procedure for your connection type and send the resulting protocol to the provider. A single Wi-Fi test is insufficient evidence for that statutory route. Request correction and set an appropriate remedy deadline before seeking extraordinary termination. The protocol does not set the reduction amount. If unresolved, use the Bundesnetzagentur complaint or conciliation route; it does not collect your compensation for you. Avoid simply stopping payments while the dispute remains unclear.

Avoid contract and copyright surprises

Read Contracts and subscriptions for renewal and cancellation records, and Scams and payment recovery for fake provider messages. For cable-TV charges through your landlord, use Tenant basics. Use lawful sources for films and music. Section 97a of the Copyright Act is the rights holder’s warning before a court claim for an injunction, and it can invite a cease-and-desist undertaking secured by a reasonable contractual penalty. Keep the letter and its deadline. The consumer centre’s file-sharing guidance is a place to get help understanding that letter. The Official letters guide explains the next step. Do not ignore the letter or sign the proposed undertaking without advice.

Common mistakes

• Believing a prepaid SIM can be anonymous. Section 172 requires a subscriber-data check before activation. Skipping a passport check is not itself unlawful if another permitted identification method is used; skipping the required verification is.
• Assuming one shop’s requirements apply everywhere. One may want a Meldebescheinigung; another may accept a passport and a foreign address for a short tariff. Ask and keep a copy of the written conditions.
• Treating Abmeldung as cancellation, or assuming any mobile contract ends on one month’s notice during the initial term. Send a separate notice and identify the applicable right: ordinary terms, silent renewal, or an unserved new address under section 60.
• Assuming “internet included” in a furnished let covers a contract in your name. Ask whether the router is the landlord’s and whether you may order your own line. Drilling and new cabling need the landlord’s permission, which belongs in the tenancy conversation, not in a guess.