Deutsche Telekom has been offering the eSIM for prepaid customers for several years now. It is now possible to select an eSIM profile as an alternative to a classic operator card when ordering a MagentaMobil prepaid tariff. Of course, you should only do this if your smartphone also has an eSIM.
Telekom is not alone in offering the option to select eSIM profiles directly when ordering a new contract or a prepaid connection. Other providers and discounters also offer this service – often with the pleasant side effect from the customer’s perspective that the mobile connection can be used immediately.
Telekom sends eSIM by post
Logo: Telekom, photo/montage: teltarif.de Things are different at Telekom, as the company does not offer customers the option of using MagentaMobil Prepaid immediately after ordering. Instead, the explanation for the eSIM states that customers will receive it by post. The time advantage that the eSIM could have over sending a physical operator card is therefore lost.
New tariffs with bonus for number portability
As reported, Deutsche Telekom introduced new prepaid tariffs this week. Compared to the previous standard conditions, more data volume is now included. In addition, any unused inclusive volume is automatically carried over to the next billing period, and in Switzerland, customers can now use their tariff – as in the EU and EEA countries and in Great Britain – according to the “roam like at home” principle.
New customers who bring their existing cell phone number to MagentaMobil Prepaid receive a bonus of 15 euros. It does not matter which of the prepaid Telekom tariffs the customer chooses. The prerequisite is that the number porting actually works. The bonus credit is valid for up to 400 days. However, as with almost all comparable promotions, there is no provision for a payout.
Note on the Telekom website
Quelle: telekom.de, Screenshot: teltarif.de
An assessment by Markus Weidner
It is undoubtedly pleasing that Telekom prepaid customers no longer have to order a plastic SIM first if they are planning to switch to an eSIM anyway. However, according to the Telekom website, the current practice of sending the QR code to the customer by post is further evidence of the state of digitization in Germany.
What Telekom is doing here is – with all due respect – simply embarrassing and the most amateurish thing in the world. The American Telekom subsidiary has been showing how things can be done better for five years now. With T-Mobile US, you can simply download the eSIM onto your phone from the AppStore, and it works with fraenk too. So why not with Telekom?
In another article, we compared the current Telekom prepaid tariffs with the offers of other network operators.