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Experience buying a Sim card at Munich Airport?

When looking for this information, most sites are vague & strongly advise eSims. I will use an eSim, but my husband has an older phone that is incompatible so needs an actual Sim. Our plan was to go directly from Munich airport to the first town on our itinerary using the Deutschland ticket which needs to be displayed when requested by the conductor. With no data he won't be able to do that. The obvious solution (to us) would be to buy a Telekom Sim at the airport, but everything I've read stresses that this will cost a) slightly more or b) 2 to 3 times as much as at a city outlet, and offers less choice. Last time we purchased at the Telekom store in Munich there was limited choice as well, offering only a Magenta Mobile "L" instead of the "M" which he wanted.

If you have done this, was it twice as much? Three times? Only slightly? Only offering the more expensive "L" or equivalent? Or is it possible to display both tickets on one phone and I am totally overthinking this?

Any information gladly accepted. Thanks in advance.

Posted by
367 posts

I would contact your cell provider and ask about their international packages to see if it makes more sense to choose that instead of getting a SIM card. We are on Verizon and we chose going with their $10 a day package. For us it seemed super complicated to get a SIM card. But everyone has different experiences and opinions. Maybe have one phone on the SIM and the other on an international package? Or do the international package for the first day until you can get to a place to buy a SIM card at a less expensive price.

Posted by
76 posts

Take a look at Amazon price for Orange France Travel physical SIM. They are around the same price as Orange France eSIM I have purchase directly from Orange France. Another physical SIM vendor is Simpotions that indicates they ship.

Posted by
897 posts

the Deutschland ticket which needs to be displayed when requested by
the conductor. With no data he won't be able to do that.

You can display your D-Ticket without data. Your D-Ticket is stored in the app on your phone, not online. Once the ticket is loaded on the app it can be accessed offline. You can, of course, test this at home before you depart.

Agree with Susan K to see what your provider offers. I use AT&T's $10 per day plan. I find I don't need data every day and some days I get by with just wi-fi. With two phones you should be able to get by with one using data and one with just wi-fi.

Posted by
897 posts

Let me add, you should also be able to create a hot spot on your phone with data that your partner can connect to.

Posted by
8655 posts

Depending on the source you use for the D-Ticket, you should also be able to load it into your digital wallet (Google Wallet or maybe an Apple equivalent). I did that (actually the source I used loads it directly to your wallet) and I do the same with boarding passes and such. Wallet requires no data to access.

My preference for a physical SIM would be to go to a brick and mortar store of the provider, that way they can guide you to the best option, take care of any requirements, and assure it works before you leave the store. I have used Vodaphone several times in the past.

Posted by
7 posts

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions. His cell plan doesn't offer the international day pass option, but if the D-ticket will display in his Google Wallet without internet connection, that would be ideal. A hotspot on my phone is 2nd choice. I suspect that the "more expensive" airport purchase alternative would be about the same as the Amazon Travel Orange options I'm seeing and having the staff insert & verify it would be nice. Again, thank you all, I think we're ready to go.