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[Shadow Panther]

Is there any way to get a SIM card for a week with a cheap data plan (2G/3G) or unlimited data in Germany?

The best offer I have from my own network is about 0.18€ per megabyte in roaming, which is pretty expensive.

I suppose that this year there'd be free wifi in the lobby, like the last year, but I'm asking about having connection outside of a hotel or inside the room which doesn't have access to lobby wifi (last year we had a room in the farthest end of the corridor - 302 or something like that).

Update: the solution is here - https://forum.eurofurence.org/index.php/topic,3865.0.html

[Wawik]

There are a bunch of options - it's too much to go into deeper detail, but there are a number of resellers for pay-as-you-go SIM cards.
There's an overview of tarriffs (although only in German) at http://www.teltarif.de/mobilfunk/datenrechner.html that may give you an idea what to expect.

Generally speaking, when you're only staying in the country for a few days, it is best to pick up a starter pack from the local shops (Kaufland has some of them near the checkout) and just use whatever came preloaded with the card.

As far as network operators go, Telekom and Vodafone are usually at the upper end of the price range while O2 delivers the best bang for the buck.. and e-plus should generally be avoided.

If you want to reuse the card at a later stage, pay attention to the details - some cards expire if they haven't been topped up for six months, especially on the O2 and E-Plus networks.

You will also have to activate the card with proof of residency, either in the shop or online. They usually take the hotel address just fine. (Network operators don't really care for your address, but it's a legal requirement to give one, in case you want to use the SIM for a pipe bomb or something...  )

[ysegrim]

As much as I curse about EPlus, Aldi used to have a rather cheap prepaid option (€10 for SIM), including a €1,99/24h,1GB HDSPA "Flatrate", using the EPlus network. When I registered, they did not really ask for an address (though they were supposed to), but YMMV.