Hi all, I have my iPad 2 with me in Berlin, and bought a prepaid micro-SIM card at a Deutsche Telekom store. The card cost 10 euros, and I gather it includes two days access, and I can add 5 euros per each day of additional access that I want. So far it's working great.

The only thing I'm not clear on is where/how to add this additional time. The staff in the store spoke vastly better English than my German, but this point remained fuzzy, and this is the first time I've bought a SIM card. Is this generally done via a menu on the iPad? Or via a website? Or do I need to go into a Deutsche Telekom store again? Thanks for any help.

Congratulations.
I am German and I live in Berlin. Until now I thought it was not possible for a non German resident to buy and activate a German Prepaid SIM Card. But things like this happen.
Now let me get back to your problem.
I think if you go to a drug store like "DM" or a similar one and ask for a "Aufladebon" for t-mobile (top up voucher), they should be able to sell it to you. Most often you will find those vouchers close to the cash registers.
Once you have such a voucher, and here I am not quite sure, you could enter the voucher number on the website (I know this works for fonic.de and Blau.de) or you put the sim card in a phone and do it there.

If you need help give me your e-mail or phone number and if you happen to be close to Kudamm on Monday afternoon we could meet and I can assist you.

Knut

Knut, thanks for the information and the generous offer. We stopped today at a Mobilcom-Debitel store, where they were able to add five days to the SIM card to cover the rest of my trip.

There is only one more question I'm wondering about now. Tomorrow we will be leaving Berlin for the Czech Republic and Hungary, where we will spend about a week before returning to Germany (Munich). If I can buy a prepaid SIM card in each of those countries, I'll do so. The lady in the Mobilcom shop told me that if I didn't use the German card, my time credit would be preserved. (In other words, the five days that I added are not automatically used up five days from now; they are only consumed if I use the SIM card.) If I can't get a Czech or Hungarian SIM card, can I leave the German card in the iPad but disable it, so that I can turn it on only for brief periods (downloading email, emergency map use, etc)? Or do I need to take the German card physically out of the iPad to make sure that the time is not burned up too quickly? Everyone says the rate will be much more expensive using the card outside Germany, though no one has been able to say exactly what the effect will be if I use the German card much in the Czech Republic an/or Hungary. I suppose I'll find out, though it would be good to know in advance.

Hi,

if you have an "Xtra Card" then you might want to see the roaming details
here: Tarifoptionen | Telekom


Hope this helps.
Knut

Thanks for the URL. Yes, it's an Xtra Card, so I gather I can buy an optional roaming package online if I establish a login account. Also it appears as though having the SIM card entitles me to use T-mobile wi-fi hotspots -- we were at a restaurant last night that had one, but unfortunately I hadn't set up the username/password yet. I'll have to work on getting that all set up.

Originally Posted by Drifter

... so I gather I can buy an optional roaming package online if I establish a login account. Also it appears as though having the SIM card entitles me to use T-mobile wi-fi hotspots -- we were at a restaurant last night that had one, but unfortunately I hadn't set up the username/password yet. I'll have to work on getting that all set up.

Yes, you can buy online additional packages.
And yes, once you have set up username etc. you could use t-mobile wifi hotspots. But I do think you have to pay for the hotspot as well, but here I am not sure. Please see HotSpot.de.

Knut