German telecommunication companies

[Thanas]

I was wondering if any German users here had any knowledge about german telcom companies, e.g. which ones to trust and which ones just try to jack you off.

For example, I am currently having a very bad experience with 1&1, who somehow do not manage to get my internet up running for over a month.

[charlemagne]

I've heard nothing but bad things about 1&1, e.g. my mother-in-law had trouble for 6 months or so until their phone connection was finally stable after switching from Telekom. For hours at a time their landline just wasn't available ("Dieser Teilnehmer ist momentan nicht verfügbar") as if their house was driving through a tunnel or something. This was about 2 years ago.

But to be honest, I think everyone knows horror stories like those about every phone/internet company. I didn't have bad experiences when switching to Arcor (now Vodafone) a couple years back, other people didn't get internet for weeks after the set date. I also don't think that big companies honestly don't try to "jack people off" - sometimes it's just problems with older house or street wiring.

[salm]

I´ve heard bad things about 1&1 as well. A friend didn´t have internet connection for ever when he moved to another place but was billed anyways. Not sure if he payed it.

I´ve been quite happy with Arcor for a couple of years now even though i´m thinking of switching to Kabel BW because they provide a 20000 Internet Line via Cable TV for less than i´m currently paying for my DSL 16000 Line provided by Arcor via normal DSL.
But then, the difference is so marginal that it might not be worth the hassle.

[charlemagne]

I thought about Kabel Deutschland as well, but that was before they started their hardcore spam advertising. There's a letter every two weeks and constant phone calls starting with weak excuses like "just checking if your TV signal is alright" followed by "hey why don't you get our cable internet". I've told them a thousand times that I don't want to be called, they just don't care. It's one of the few companies that really, really rub me the wrong way with their spamming, so I won't grace them by being their customer

[salm]

I thought about Kabel Deutschland as well, but that was before they started their hardcore spam advertising. There's a letter every two weeks and constant phone calls starting with weak excuses like "just checking if your TV signal is alright" followed by "hey why don't you get our cable internet". I've told them a thousand times that I don't want to be called, they just don't care. It's one of the few companies that really, really rub me the wrong way with their spamming, so I won't grace them by being their customer

I don´t think that is even legal here in Germany since telemarketing is ilegal. Even though, they might be weaseling around and could be legally fine with their "TV signal checking" excuse.
Yeah, fuck them. Telemarketers should burn in the same hell as internet spammers.

[Thanas]

Yesterday, the fifth technician date went by....and nobody arrived from 1&1 to fix the problem. Screw them, they just lost another customer.

[charlemagne]

I don´t think that is even legal here in Germany since telemarketing is ilegal. Even though, they might be weaseling around and could be legally fine with their "TV signal checking" excuse.
Yeah, fuck them. Telemarketers should burn in the same hell as internet spammers.

I know, that's why they're using excuses like asking dumbfuck questions about their service or signal, then dropping the "and by the way we're offering internet now" thing.

[D.Turtle]

I had no problems at all with Alice-DSL (even though I was skeptical as hell with their advertising).

I have no idea how the prices are now (I have free Internet through the University), but they were quite cheap because you didn't need a Telecom phone line. Nowadays that is almost standard, I think, so they probably aren't that much cheaper anymore.

[Dargos]

I thought about Kabel Deutschland as well, but that was before they started their hardcore spam advertising. There's a letter every two weeks and constant phone calls starting with weak excuses like "just checking if your TV signal is alright" followed by "hey why don't you get our cable internet". I've told them a thousand times that I don't want to be called, they just don't care. It's one of the few companies that really, really rub me the wrong way with their spamming, so I won't grace them by being their customer

Really? I've never had that experience with Kabel Deutschland. In fact, I've never had any problems with them.

I used to be a customer of Arcor, and I never had a problem with them. They have been recently bought out by Vodofone so I don't know if their service has taken a hit or not.

[salm]

I thought about Kabel Deutschland as well, but that was before they started their hardcore spam advertising. There's a letter every two weeks and constant phone calls starting with weak excuses like "just checking if your TV signal is alright" followed by "hey why don't you get our cable internet". I've told them a thousand times that I don't want to be called, they just don't care. It's one of the few companies that really, really rub me the wrong way with their spamming, so I won't grace them by being their customer

Really? I've never had that experience with Kabel Deutschland. In fact, I've never had any problems with them.

I used to be a customer of Arcor, and I never had a problem with them. They have been recently bought out by Vodofone so I don't know if their service has taken a hit or not.

One thing i´ve noticed about the Arcor -> Vodafone transformation is that i think the hotline got worse. When they were Arcor and you called the hotline it told you that the call was free. Now it tells you that you have to pay for it. Also, i think it now takes even longer to get someone on your line. I had to call them a 3 or so weeks ago and i ended up having to call them 3 times because the machine i was connected to decided that i had allready waited to long and hung up on me.

[ent0r]

I don't know when you called them, but the hotline from Arcor/Vodafone is free of charge nowadays.

Kabel Deutschland is a viable alternative for broadband Internet.
1&1 is cheap at the moment, but it shows.

[Colonel Olrik]

Mnet. I recommend them strongly. Switched after an experience from hell with arcor, although it wasn't entirely their fault that the d-com people failed to appear at 4 appointments to activate my connection after I moved. This made me be without Internet for half an year. With mnet it worked at the first try, and the connection is faster and cheaper than arcor ever was. I actually have close to the 16 mb/s. And the help line is a lot faster too.

[salm]

I don't know when you called them, but the hotline from Arcor/Vodafone is free of charge nowadays.

I called them a couple of days ago to complain about my phone not working and when you call them the phone computer voice thingy even tells you "Dieser Anruf ist kostenpflichtig.". 14 Cents per minute.

[Dahak]

I am ok-ish with Arcor, no major problems with them so far. Only sometimes the connection drops to abysmal transfer rates, but it's because the flat is not that close to the MDF, so it's to be expected.
1&1, I never had big problems with them when I was a customer, but this was some years ago.