Home Internet in Germany

Imagine you moved into a new apartment in Germany. All you have is bare walls. You don’t even have lamps, but instead you have wires sticking out of the walls and ceilings.
What will you need in the first place?

Right, the first thing you need is WiFi in the apartment, and the rest can wait.
Did you know that the Internet in Germany is mainly a telephone cable? There is not much room for fast fibre optic internet. And the ISPs that provide it are only a few. If anyone doesn’t know the difference, the Internet via telephone cable is a rather ancient technology, even for countries that herd backwards. Speed of transmission is not so high, and plus everything you pay for your home phone (Festnetz) and other useless things. And fiber optic is a modern technology that allows you to provide fast internet.

First of all, find providers that provide services where you live. You can easily do this at: internetanbieter.de/staedte/.

Next, choose a provider and a rate. Pay attention to the speed, some offer internet at very low speeds, which is unlikely to be enough for a modern person. So you should not choose the cheapest one right away. But remember that if the contract says 100 Mbps, the real speed is likely to be several times lower.

Almost all providers offer shares: the first 5 months are free, further 7 months for only 14.99-19.99 euros, and from 13 months the price rises sharply to 40 or even 60 euros per month. In this case, the contract can be concluded for at least 2 years. If you are thinking of taking advantage of the promotional offer and jumping, it is worth knowing in detail the terms of the contract termination. After all, it is not so easy, you need a serious reason for that. For example, moving to a place where the company no longer provides services. Otherwise, you will pay until the very end. But, as practice shows, you can say anything to the provider, they will not check it ;).

Well, further installation. In the best case, it will be Vodafone Homespot (or something similar from another provider) and you do not need to install anything, because WIFI networks cover all of Germany. You just get your personal password. The next way – you can send all the necessary tools and router by mail, and you will install it yourself through a telephone cable in your apartment. And at the worst, a master will come to you and say “wait for me from October 1, 2020 to June 27, 2021”. (joke, but it’s really long and inconvenient to wait).

Then you can safely enjoy all the benefits of civilization. Well, except those for which the provider will send you fines (torrents, pirated content, etc.). But about this in a separate article.