Before you start

Passport or national ID for verification
A German address, for postpaid contracts
A German bank account, for postpaid direct debit

Step-by-step

1
Buy a prepaid SIM and verify your identity
Available from supermarkets, phone shops and online. Activation requires identity verification — in shop with your passport, by video call, or through the Post's identification service.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
2
Do not attempt a postpaid contract in your first weeks
Contracts run a Schufa check and require a German bank account and registered address. With no credit history you will be declined or asked for a deposit.
OnlineWho: You
3
Order home internet the day you sign the lease
German broadband provisioning routinely takes several weeks and can require an engineer visit. Ordering on move-in day means a month of tethering.
OnlineWho: You
4
Agree a meeting point before a match
Tens of thousands of people in a few streets saturate the mobile network around the stadium and the Hauptbahnhof on matchdays. Calls fail and messages arrive late. Fix a meeting point and a time in advance, which is what locals do.
Mobile appWho: You
5
Check what is physically in the building
Fibre has reached much of the centre, Hörde and the newer developments; large parts of the older housing stock are still on copper. A provider's postcode checker will sell you a speed the line cannot deliver — ask the landlord or the previous tenant what they actually got.
OnlineWho: You
6
Know the cancellation rules
Since 1 December 2021, when the reformed Telekommunikationsgesetz took effect, a telecoms contract continuing past its minimum term can be cancelled at any point with one month's notice rather than auto-renewing for a full year. Check your specific terms — older contracts may still run on the old basis.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport or national ID for SIM registration
Meldebescheinigung, for postpaid contracts
German bank details, for direct debit
Schufa report, which some providers request

Things most newcomers don’t know

The network gives up around the stadium on a matchday.

Eighty thousand people in a few hundred metres saturate every operator's cells, and the Hauptbahnhof afterwards is no better. Messages arrive an hour late and calls simply fail. Locals fix a meeting point in advance; newcomers rely on their phones and spend the evening looking for their friends.

Source: community-reported

Even prepaid SIMs require identity verification in Germany.

Every SIM must be registered to an identified person, so a supermarket prepaid card still needs a passport check. Arriving expecting to buy an anonymous SIM off a shelf wastes an afternoon of your first week.

Source: Bundesnetzagentur

Home internet takes weeks, so order at lease signing.

German broadband provisioning routinely takes several weeks and can require an engineer visit. Order the day the lease is signed, using the future address.

Source: community-reported

The reformed telecoms law fixed a real contract trap, and it dates from 1 December 2021.

German telecom contracts historically rolled over for another full year if you missed the cancellation window. Since the Telekommunikationsmodernisierungsgesetz took effect on 1 December 2021, §56 TKG caps the initial term at 24 months and lets you cancel at any time with one month's notice thereafter.

Source: Bundesnetzagentur / §56 TKG