Congstar to Telekom - why I switched

For many years I was satisfied with Congstar as a mobile phone provider, even though LTE was never officially available from Congstar. But with the current Magenta 5.0 rates plus 10,-€ advantage the Telekom got me.

Up to now, the 9-cent tariff of Congstar (with LTE) was ideal for me: about 17,- EURO per month were due with 1 GB data volume (at 12,95 EURO) - in addition to that, there were some units of telephony and SMS each. First of all: Even with the cheapest telecom tariff you can't beat Congstar's prices, the regular rate is 34,95 EURO/month. The minimum contract period is 24 months, the Telekom has not moved yet.

Advantages Telekom vs. Congstar

as well as the Congstar 9-cent tariff use the really good Telekom network. Nevertheless, there are a few more features at Telekom, but everyone has to decide for themself which features are needed and if they are worth the extra charge:

• LTE with 150 Mbps
• Allnet-Flat for telephony and SMS
• Visual Voicemail (with iPhone)
• Hotspot-Flat for Telekom-Wifi hotspots

Thanks to the "All Inclusive" foreign option the data volume as well as the SMS and telephony flat rate can also be used abroad - the latter is limited to 1,000 minutes or SMS per month, but this should be enough for most holidays. After all, these contingents correspond to over 70 minutes per day, if you assume a 14-day stay abroad - on holiday you shouldn't make so many calls anyway, and if you do, you don't need to worry.

Good support from the "Telekom hilft" team

Telekom support may not have the best reputation in general - but I have to take up the cudgels for the team around "Telekom hilft". In my case, it was about using the Magenta advantage, where the fixed line has a different contractual partner than the mobile phone contract. In this case, help was provided in an uncomplicated way, even though I didn't even have a customer number. After switching the MagentaEINS advantage I was informed by phone that the Allnet-Flat of the fixed line would be activated two days later (in between was a holiday).

Already a few years ago, the Telekom-Hilft Twitter account was a great help after the connection date of the VDSL line was set to 28.12. - unfortunately, no technician was available here, which delayed the connection. For the transition period there was an Xtra-Card (with a Fritzbox-compatible data stick) and a credit note, all conveniently via the Twitter account: @Telecom_help.

The support team is also available in forums like Telephone-Treff.de actively and helps there directly as part of the community.

Conclusion: Congstar to Telekom

All in all, the actual surcharge from the discounter Congstar to the "premium" provider Telekom is quite manageable: even after the first 12 months (and the online advantage of 10% that applies there), the surcharge - in my usage pattern - is about 8 Euros. For me personally, this is worth the extra service of the Telekom tariff, even though there are of course cheaper packages from other providers.