Getting yourself connected at home is one of the most important parts of moving house now, and while it isn’t strictly Frankfurt related, it is worth including here since service levels can vary around the country.

After looking around and then asking around, I found that there were only two good options: Deutsche Telekom and 1&1. The difference between the two is basically cost and service levels. 1&1 were one of the cheapest on the market and Telekom have one of the best coverages.

Mobile phones – I went for my mobiles as well with 1&1. I upgraded the package to include up to 4 mobile phone SIM cards. There was a €10 activation charge, but after that the costs are really low each month and free calls/texts between the phones. Great for a family with kids! Plus I can monitor all phone activity from an online dashboard. Brilliant for parental control! :-). (Note: the phones run on the Vodaphone network).

I went for 1&1 because I am a sucker for a good bargain and they often do excellent discounts. But as you would expect with a low cost provider, there are a few drawbacks:

– they won’t help in English. I tried numerous times and even though they are really friendly and helpful, there seems to be no one who speaks the language!

– they use Deutsche Telekom engineers to do the connection. Ironic really. Telekom providers are unfriendly and unforgiving if you are 5 seconds late to open the door. Probably because you didn’t book your package with them!

– the service runs really well without the need for human support. But if you need something out of the ordinary, then you may find it hard getting the necessary tech support. Seems they run on a skeleton crew to keep costs down.