Before you start

Passport or national ID for verification
A German address, for postpaid contracts
A German bank account, for postpaid direct debit

Step-by-step

1
Buy a prepaid SIM and verify your identity
Available from supermarkets, phone shops and online. Activation requires identity verification — in shop with your passport, by video call, or through the Post's identification service.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
2
Do not attempt a postpaid contract in your first weeks
Contracts run a Schufa check and require a German bank account and registered address. With no credit history you will be declined or asked for a deposit.
OnlineWho: You
3
Order home internet the day you sign the lease
German broadband provisioning routinely takes several weeks and can require an engineer visit. Ordering on move-in day means a month of tethering.
OnlineWho: You
4
Do not rely on mobile data at the Messe
During Hannover Messe, Agritechnica or IAA Transportation, several hundred thousand people crowd the exhibition grounds and the networks saturate. If you are working a fair, download what you need in advance and use the venue wifi rather than expecting a signal.
Mobile appWho: You
5
Check what is physically in the building
Fibre has reached much of the central and northern districts; a good deal of the older stock is still on copper. A provider's postcode checker will happily sell you a speed the line cannot deliver — ask the landlord or the previous tenant what they actually got.
OnlineWho: You
6
Know the cancellation rules
Since 1 December 2021, when the reformed Telekommunikationsgesetz took effect, a telecoms contract continuing past its minimum term can be cancelled at any point with one month's notice rather than auto-renewing for a full year. Check your specific terms — older contracts may still run on the old basis.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport or national ID for SIM registration
Meldebescheinigung, for postpaid contracts
German bank details, for direct debit
Schufa report, which some providers request

Things most newcomers don’t know

Even prepaid SIMs require identity verification in Germany.

Every SIM must be registered to an identified person, so a supermarket prepaid card still needs a passport check. Arriving expecting to buy an anonymous SIM off a shelf wastes an afternoon of your first week.

Source: Bundesnetzagentur

Trade fair weeks are the one predictable network failure in this city.

The exhibition grounds concentrate several hundred thousand visitors into a few square kilometres for a week at a time, and every operator's cells there saturate. If your job depends on connectivity at a fair, plan for venue wifi and offline copies rather than discovering it on the stand.

Source: community-reported

Home internet takes weeks, so order at lease signing.

German broadband provisioning routinely takes several weeks and can require an engineer visit. Order the day the lease is signed, using the future address.

Source: community-reported

The reformed telecoms law fixed a real contract trap, and it dates from 1 December 2021.

German telecom contracts historically rolled over for another full year if you missed the cancellation window. Since the Telekommunikationsmodernisierungsgesetz took effect on 1 December 2021, §56 TKG caps the initial term at 24 months and lets you cancel at any time with one month's notice thereafter.

Source: Bundesnetzagentur / §56 TKG