T-Mobile Germany Introduces 3G Flat Rates for Limited Time

T-Mobile Germany is planning to launch the Data Flatrate plan at the beginning of March as a new service for mobile data users.

For EUR 35 a month and EUR 1 for each day of use, business and residential customers can surf the Internet for as long and as often as they like, send and receive emails together with attachments or access applications in the corporate network. The maximum charges for mobile data communication are EUR 66 a month if the customer uses the service every day in a month with 31 days.

This flatrate is valid for exchanging data via the mobile phone platforms GPRS and UMTS provided by T-Mobile and includes high-speed UMTS during the implementation phase of HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) that will run from CeBIT up to 31 May 2006.

During the initial expansion phase, the technology will increase the maximum bandwidth for cellular data via UMTS from a maximum of 384 Kbits (kilobits per second) at present to up to 1.8 Mbits (megabits per second). HSDPA will also reduce the time it takes for data packets to be sent between the mobile phone device and server (latency). T-Mobile will gradually increase the transmission speed of high-speed UMTS to 7.2 Mbits during further development phases, but the operator says 3.6 Mbits should be possible by the end of the year.

It won't matter whether users connect via UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) or, during the implementation phase, HSDPA.

The minimum agreement period for Data Flatrate is three months,and the Data Flatrate offer runs until 30 September 2006.