Magenta Mobil: Mobile Operators’ Tariffs All Look the Same

First it was mobile operator O2, or rather Telefónica, that named its tariff portfolio after the company colour, simply calling it “Blue”. In October 2012 Vodafone followed with its Red tariffs. And now guess what Deutsche Telekom plans to unveil at IFA 2014?

Exactly! They plan to rename their tariff portfolio after that wonderfully pretty, unmistakable and terribly intrusive colour, magenta. More on the new Magenta Mobile tariffs can be found, among other places, at Teltarif via the following link.

— Read more http://mobil.teltarif.de/telekom-magenta-mobil-neue-tarife-flatrate/news/56814.html

Well Explained: The Galileo Disaster

Teltarif explains the problems of the Galileo project very clearly in this article. It is not only about how the two satellites ended up in the wrong orbit, but also where the fundamental problems of this billion-euro money pit lie. Final quote:

Politicians should therefore ask themselves whether it might not be wise to pause once more, look at what has already been achieved and consider whether the remaining objectives could be achieved more cheaply through a new tender. Ultimately, it does not matter who supplies the satellites or who launches them. What matters is that the EU ultimately has 100 percent control over the satellites!

The full article is available at the following link.

— Read more at http://www.teltarif.de/galileo-satellit-navigation-gps-glonass-fehlstart/news/56778.html

Provider-Independent SIM Cards Already Possible in the Netherlands

If device manufacturers such as Samsung and Apple included SIM cards with their devices that were not tied to a specific provider, the mobile communications business could change fundamentally. The Dutch regulatory authority has opened up possibilities for this.

— Read more at http://www.golem.de/news/soft-sim-sim-karten-ohne-provider-bindung-kommen-1403-105168.html

Munich: Free Wi-Fi at Marienplatz, Karlsplatz, Odeonsplatz, Isartor and Sendlinger Tor

Similar to Berlin, Munich will soon have free Wi-Fi as well. The pilot project, initially planned for two years, is to launch first at Marienplatz. Karlsplatz, Odeonsplatz, Isartor and Sendlinger Tor will follow in autumn. The network will be operated by Stadtwerke München, hence the name M-WLAN. More information and additional links are available at heise.de

Dear Telekom, This Is How Fast Internet Works Without Throttling

This article on Golem.de shows how Google makes money from fibre connections in the USA. Dear “Drosselkom”, you could learn a thing or two from that! Google may only be rolling out these connections in metropolitan areas, but Telekom also claims that throttling was introduced because expanding the access network is expensive – and most connections are naturally located in urban areas. More background and information on how much one GB of traffic costs Telekom can be found in another Golem article.