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German voip restrictions workaround?Hi all.
My stepson will be moving to Munich in a month and I wanted to set up a DID there so he could call home easily. Unfortunately, every provider I use indicates proof of residence is required for a German DID. For example "Important Notice: VoIP regulations of GERMANY require the following to be provided in order to provide a number: An official ID, such as driver's license, matching location of the DID ordered. (Postal Code must match the same city ordered). Make sure that you can provide this information before you place your order." Does anyone know a way around this? I live in Brazil and am Canadian, so obviously I am not going to have a Munich address. Thanks. |
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 Arne BolenHappy user of Anveo, 3CX and Qubes OS.
Premium Member
join:2009-06-21
Planet Earth
1 edit |
said by Toollio:My stepson will be moving to Munich in a month and I wanted to set up a DID there so he could call home easily. Unfortunately, every provider I use indicates proof of residence is required for a German DID. I suggest Rebtel for him. With Rebtel he gets a German phone number for each of his contacts, free of charge and no need for ID. His contacts get a local phone number in their country they can use to call him. Example: When he adds your Brazilian phone number to his contacts, he gets a German phone number. When he calls that German phone number your Brazilian phone rings. You get a Brazilian phone number in Rio de Janeiro and when you call that number his phone in Germany rings. Rebtel works very well, the audio is excellent and the rates are low. IMPORTANT: He will get the lowest rates if he choose British Pounds as account currency. |
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to Toollio
As far as I know they are strict about this. Alternatives: Use local-number calling services such as this from Localphone (it is different than getting a DID): » www.localphone.com/servi ··· _numbers» www.localphone.com/help/ ··· _numbersRebtel offers similar. OR Get a free iNum number from CallCentric or one of various other providers. Then your son calls the iNUM access number in Germany (+4969257385876) (within Germany it is probably dialed as 069257385876) and then your iNum number. OR If your son has Internet access, then both you and he get free CallCentric "IP Freedom" accounts, and call each other for free by dialing the other person's 1777xxxxxxx account number. |
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Arne BolenHappy user of Anveo, 3CX and Qubes OS.
Premium Member
join:2009-06-21
Planet Earth |
Actually, Rebtel is not similar to Localphone. With Localphone only one of the parties gets a local phone number to call, while Rebtel gives both parties a local phone number. Rebtel is superior compared to Localphone. |
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Thanks for the suggestions so far. I am confused about one thing. If he were to use Rebtel, for example, where in Germany are the local numbers? If he is living in Munich, will the local numbers assigned for his contacts in Brazil be Munich numbers? Or might he have to make a long distance call within Germany to reach those local German numbers? |
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I'll leave that to Arne but I think that Rebtel probably would have local numbers (access numbers) available in Munich. It is the 3rd largest city as you know. |
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Arne BolenHappy user of Anveo, 3CX and Qubes OS.
Premium Member
join:2009-06-21
Planet Earth |
to Toollio
said by Toollio:If he were to use Rebtel, for example, where in Germany are the local numbers? Rebtel have local phone numbers in several cities in each country, some countries may have local phone numbers in only one city. There are no local phone numbers for Munich, instead he will get 04 2318 704 7XX (Verden Aller). |
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maziloFrom Mazilo
Premium Member
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA |
to Toollio
said by Toollio:My stepson will be moving to Munich in a month and I wanted to set up a DID there so he could call home easily. Perhaps, the least expensive approach to achieve such a long distant communication for free is to use Google HangOut on an Android smartphone. This approach, not only allows both sides to place/receive calls to/from each other for free, but also allows to place/receive calls to/from anyone in the US for free. |
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drivel
join:2013-07-12
Santa Clara, CA |
to Toollio
Why does he need a German DID while in Germany? Would, for example, a Canadian DID work? |
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Arne BolenHappy user of Anveo, 3CX and Qubes OS.
Premium Member
join:2009-06-21
Planet Earth |
said by drivel:Why does he need a German DID while in Germany? Would, for example, a Canadian DID work? It's costly to call a Canadian or Brazilian phone number from Germany, especially if using a cellphone. |
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to drivel
The German DID would send the calls to his father in Brazil or Canada, while the son would be dialing a local German number. |
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iamhere
Member
2014-Dec-12 10:31 am
But if the kid only wants to call his parents he doesn't need a DID at all. If they had a DID he could get a sub-account and call it cheaply or free (using voip.ms). For calling the other way, you can call a Munich DID with Circlenet for roughly $0.00738 a minute (I checked using the number for City Hall). That's pretty cheap in my book.  Edit: just realized my method requires internet / ip phone which possibly won't be available. |
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drivel
join:2013-07-12
Santa Clara, CA |
to Arne Bolen
said by Arne Bolen:said by drivel:Why does he need a German DID while in Germany? Would, for example, a Canadian DID work? It's costly to call a Canadian or Brazilian phone number from Germany, especially if using a cellphone. Meanwhile, he would save money on his Germany to Canada calls. |
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 cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL |
to Toollio
There is no way around it. I do have a government issued German national ID with address from the area code I requested and even that was not enough. You also need an utility bill and /off bank statement with the same address.
A way around would be getting a non geographic German phone number. keep in mind that some providers charge much higher rates for calls to non geographic numbers. |
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| cb14 |
to Toollio
The other question would be : Is he going to live in Germany illegally? Because if not, he should have an alien card from the Immigration, proof of registration and obviously, bank/utility statements and all of that.
A pre paid cell phone would be another easy way to obtain a German phone number, however,the costs of calling German cell phones, certainly from other countries, are significantly higher than calling German land/voip/ numbers. |
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I think the point was to set this up in advance. Utility or bank documents would not yet be available.
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If he is to be living with friends or family already in Germany perhaps they could set this up. |
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cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL |
cb14
Member
2014-Dec-12 1:00 pm
said by PX Eliezer1:If he is to be living with friends or family already in Germany perhaps they could set this up. They could certainly set it up, they could also buy him a prepaid SIM card for a cell phone, however, if they set it up, the number will not be in his name, so they will have to open let' say a Localphone account with their credit card for him( let's say $10 because of 5$ set up for DID and 1$ monthly rent ). Since they have most likely an EU billing address the German VAT will have to be added on the top of it. |
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1 edit |
to Toollio
Since the number will only be used to call a single destination (home) by a single person DID is not necessary. There are many free VOIP networks which offer PSTN access numbers + extensions which can be forwarded to any SIP destination. I assume many include Munich access numbers.
Just set up an extension in one of those services and send your son the access number + extension to reach you.
He can then save both number + extension DTMF as a contact on his phone so sending DTMF will be always done automatically. |
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to Toollio
SIPBroker claims to have a Munich access number, which would be perfect for you, should your stepson have free access to only local calls. Unfortunately, when I tried calling it from two providers, an announcement in English was played "You have reached a number that is not currently set up to receive calls. Please try again later." See » www.sipbroker.com/sipbro ··· nNumbers . I wrote to SIPSERVICE support and will post an update when they reply. |
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said by Stewart:SIPBroker claims to have a Munich access number, which would be perfect for you, should your stepson have free access to only local calls. Unfortunately, when I tried calling it from two providers, an announcement in English was played "You have reached a number that is not currently set up to receive calls. Please try again later." I had the same experience earlier today, that in fact is why I didn't mention Sipbroker. Although the Sipbroker crew has policed their site and removed a lot of outdated carrier codes and outdated local access numbers, I think that many of the local access numbers are (as the Germans would say) kaput. |
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cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL |
to Stewart
An NTR number could be a non bureaucratic solution ( area code 032), I do not know whether Localphone offers them in my .experience they get you just about any area code if you ask them even if it is not on their list ( and you cannot beat $1/month unlimited in retail). Could be worth asking. I have no clue how the pricing from international providers for calls to those numbers would be; in Germany major telecoms included them in their flat rate plans but there were some reports of higher tariffs by some German mobile providers. |
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 crazyk4952
Premium Member
join:2002-02-04
united state
Ubiquiti UniFi AP-LR
Polycom VVX300
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to Toollio
said by Toollio:My stepson will be moving to Munich in a month and I wanted to set up a DID there so he could call home easily. Unfortunately, every provider I use indicates proof of residence is required for a German DID. There may be another way to get cheap/free calling between you and your stepson: buy a pair of OBi devices and have him take one with him when he goes. As long as he has an internet connection, it should work fine. If he will only have access to wifi (and not Ethernet), there is a wifi dongle that can be purchased for some of the OBi devices. All OBi devices are assigned a 9-digit number and calling between devices is free. |
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drivel
join:2013-07-12
Santa Clara, CA |
drivel
Member
2014-Dec-14 10:38 pm
said by crazyk4952:said by Toollio:My stepson will be moving to Munich in a month and I wanted to set up a DID there so he could call home easily. Unfortunately, every provider I use indicates proof of residence is required for a German DID. There may be another way to get cheap/free calling between you and your stepson: buy a pair of OBi devices and have him take one with him when he goes. As long as he has an internet connection, it should work fine. If he will only have access to wifi (and not Ethernet), there is a wifi dongle that can be purchased for some of the OBi devices. All OBi devices are assigned a 9-digit number and calling between devices is free. Or make a SIP call. SIP calls are usually free. |
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Thank you everybody for the helpful replies. I sincerely appreciate the advice.
Just to clarify a few things (which were asked in posts above)
1) The idea was to set this up before my stepson gets to Germany.
2) I need a local number that I can then ring through to my VOIP numbers or my ATA--usually I am in Brasil, sometimes Canada.
3) He will not likely have an ATA. He might not even have broadband internet. So the sip to sip idea might not work. But he will have a mobile phone, which is why I am interested in a local Munich number
4) Of course he will be living there legally. He has Italian, hence EU, citizenship as well as Brasilian citizenship. But that means he will not technically have "German" ID, I don't know how this will affect things. Once he had an address I could get him to open an account, say with Voip.ms, from there and use his info to configure a Munich DID to ring on one of my ATAs. But that means he will be paying for it, and I was hoping to do this as a gift.
5) I also tried the Munich sipbroker numbers, with no success. It seems local Munich access numbers for voip services, including Rebtel, do not exist. I use a few Voip providers that offer local access numbers around the world, but none in Munich (and for many, none at all in Germany)
In any event, there are some great ideas in this thread. I will experiment with a few. Again, thanks very much for your help. |
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cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL |
cb14
Member
2014-Dec-15 10:54 am
He will not have a German ID but he will have a residential card and a proof of registration- perfectly fine.
With his cell phone, he will get a number . however, in Germany, like in most European countries, cell phone numbers are non geographic, thus it will not be a "Munich " number.You may let your friends in Germany buy and send him a prepaid SIM card for a GSM phone and you will have the number before he leaves.
Localphone will get you a Munich number, you just have to e-mail their customer service. |
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nonymous (banned)
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ |
to Toollio
Is there a shortage of German DIDs or is Germany just? |
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to Toollio
said by Toollio:But he will have a mobile phone, which is why I am interested in a local Munich number I don't believe that any mobile carrier or MVNO in Germany distinguishes "local" from other domestic calls. Some do distinguish fixed from mobile and/or their own network from other mobile networks. So, a Munich landline access number would not be needed. See » www.prepaidvergleich.com/ . Consider getting a "Festnetz Flat" option, ~10 €/mo. with most plans, that allows "unlimited" calling to any landline numbers in Germany. Choose the operator or MVNO based on his need for data, SMS, and mobile voice minutes. If you have a device registered to Localphone, he can call you for free, by routing his Local Number (in Frankfurt) via iNum to your Localphone VoIP. This will work even if iNum is down, because the routing stays within Localphone. OTOH, if you are using Callcentric or VoIP.ms and don't want to add Localphone into the mix, I'd suggest setting up a Rebtel "Collect Call" to ring you via iNum. If iNum has trouble again, change your Preferred number to one of your Canada DIDs and Rebtel will charge you $0.015/min. |
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cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL |
cb14
Member
2014-Dec-15 1:09 pm
said by Stewart:I don't believe that any mobile carrier or MVNO in Germany distinguishes "local" from other domestic calls. Some do distinguish fixed from mobile and/or their own network from other mobile networks. So, a Munich landline access number would not be needed. They definitely distinguish between mobile and fixed. Mobile are non geographic and the termination is far more expensive, which is reflected in much higher costs for flat rate plans for calling mobiles. said by Stewart:Consider getting a "Festnetz Flat" option, ~10 €/mo. with most plans, that allows "unlimited" calling to any landline numbers in Germany. An advantage of a "festnetz flat" would be that he could call the Localphone access number for free and do all his international calling this way. another, somewhat less reliable, but even cheaper option would be CWU callback, which he should use anyway for calling to all Euro mobiles and possibly, unless he has a very high land line number call volume, even for calling to German land lines and save the money for "festnetz flat" |
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tyrodome
Premium Member
join:2004-02-18
USA |
to Toollio
At VOIP.MS, DIDs for Denmark, Luxembourg, and Belgium are apparently
available without restriction. I suspect that such a DID would be callable
from German telcos at nearly German domestic rates. Of the three,
a Belgian DID is cheapest: $4.00 per month. |
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cb14
join:2013-02-04
Miami Beach, FL |
cb14
Member
2014-Dec-16 12:04 am
said by tyrodome:At VOIP.MS, DIDs for Denmark, Luxembourg, and Belgium are apparently
available without restriction. I suspect that such a DID would be callable
from German telcos at nearly German domestic rates. Of the three,
a Belgian DID is cheapest: $4.00 per month. You can get a German DID from Localphone for $1/month unlimited. The restrictions have nothing to do with availability, rather with some exaggerated security concerns by German authorities. |
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