cost for sending and received SMS to/from Kanada

alanl · 8. Juni 2021

Sorry no German, hopefully that's not a problem and answers in German are most welcome

I am booking a "Prepaid wie ich will (2. Generation)" tarif with the "Minuten/SMS Flat Option" (4 Eur) and was wondering if I will be charged for sending from Germany to Kanada. And whether I will be charged for receiving a SMS from Kanada when I am in Germany.

I believe the "Minuten/SMS Flat Option" will give me free send and receive SMS within Germany to German phone numbers.

Ty

Alex_DE · 8. Juni 2021

Hello @alanl

If you send an SMS to Kanada, it costs you 0,29€ for one SMS . If someone sends you an SMS from Kanada to Germany, you don't have to pay anything, but only the sender of the SMS.

You can find a price list for your prepaid rate here:
Preisliste congstar “Prepaid wie ich will”

Kanada is country zone 2 by the way.

Best regards

Alex

alanl · 8. Juni 2021

thanks Alex, for your reply (in perfect English) and providing the official Preisliste PDF. If I ever have trouble getting to sleep ...

Actually I did check with google search and saw the 0.29Eur /SMS for SMS from Germany to Kanada (or any Z1 or Z2 ausland country). However, somehow I assumed that if I paid for a flat SMS prepaid option (i.e., "Minuten/SMS Flat Option" (4 Eur) ) I would get these Germany->Kanada SMS I send for free. But I guess not

Perhaps Whatapp messaging would be a better alternative to SMS for German/Kanada comms as I believe this is free with congstar? If you (or anyone) could confirm Whatapp messaging would not use my data volume, that would be much appreciated. In case it matters I was also going add the "Surf Flat Option 5 GB" for 15 EUR. I expect this info is burried somewhere in the rulebooks and I am probably guilty for asking this.

Alex_DE · 8. Juni 2021

Do you currently have a data option booked? WhatsApp of course only works with an active data connection. Either via wifi or via a mobile connection.

If you have not yet booked a data option, I recommend you to book one. You have the choice between 500MB to 5GB. WhatsApp is of course the cheaper option instead of paying 0.29€ for each SMS.

Your booked mobile data volume will of course be charged by WhatsApp.

I wish you a nice day @alanl

Jonathan · 8. Juni 2021

Good morning alanl,

I don't have much more to add. Your flatrate only covers connections from german providers to germany providers or when you are in another EU-country from there to another EU-provider including german providers (careful: sending from germany to another EU-country is not included and will be charged with 0.07 €).

Connections from anywhere to non EU-countries are charged with 0.29 € per SMS.

A good alternative are messaging apps - for which you will need a internet connection. Your current mobile tariff has a free messaging option which will provide you with 32 kbit/s for messaging. Thats okay for text but gets rough pictures or even videos. You may need to activate the "Ländergruppe 1 Messaging Option" once in order to be able to activate it for germany. You can find the booking at datapass.com. Please make sure not to use WLAN, when you try to reach the site.

Greetings
Jonathan

alanl · 8. Juni 2021

Thanks again Alex and Jonathan,

I am now fully warned that it will be 0,29EUR/SMS for Germany to Canada.

It's interesting to hear flatrate will cover SMS if I am in another EU country and I am sending to another EU-provider or German Provider.

As you both said: internet messaging is the best option for my case. About 4 days before I arrive in Germany I will be booking the "Surf Flat Option 5 GB" for 15 EUR for general internet use while I am in Germany. I guess the generous 32kbs free messaging service will never be used and I will be billed for my messaging from my 5GB volume.

Best,

Alan

schlingo · 8. Juni 2021

Zitat von alanl

It's interesting to hear flatrate will cover SMS if I am in another EU country and I am sending to another EU-provider or German Provider.

Hi Alan

FYI: this is called Roaming: Using a mobile phone in the EU and is intended to reinforce the sense of belonging together in the European Union. I'm not sure but do not believe that you have extra charges in the U.S. or Canada between the individual states, do you?

I wish you a pleasant stay in Germany and the EU.

Regards Ingo

alanl · 9. Juni 2021

Zitat von schlingo

I'm not sure but do not believe that you have extra charges in the U.S. or Canada between the individual states, do you?

I wish you a pleasant stay in Germany and the EU.

Hi Ingo,

thanks for your mail. It's always great to visit Germany/Eu.

In Canada I am a fairly low-usage cell phone user and use a prepaid monthly charge plan here in Kanada. In case you are interested it is listed at https://www.koodomobile.com/prepaid-plans

Koodo is owned by a premium carrier called Telus which is similar to how T-kom owns Congstar.

I am on their base plan and pay $13.50/month for unlimited SMS, 250 MB data, and canada wide 100 minutes of voice. This means I can roam in other Canadian provinces and there is no roaming charge for voice/SMS/data. This is similar to congstar roaming in the EU. (Also, they Koodo provide free international SMS on my plan which is a nice touch).

If I roam to the US, things change and charges start adding up

As the plan I have is quite basic, I would assume most monthly plans and even pay as you go phones also provide Canada roaming as my plan does.

I would say Congstar is better than anything you can get in Canada as you have more configurability to change your options. For eg, I would probably simply choose flat SMS and 500MB data for 7Eur/month, that would be better for me than Koodo at $13.50. So Germans are lucky to have it

Best,

Alan

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