Internet, telephone and TV

The dialing code for Dresden from abroad is + 49 (0)351. Public phones are becoming more and more rare in the city. You can make cheap international phone calls from phone shops in Dresden Neustadt.

If you are renting a flat in Dresden, you usually have to take care of telephone and internet by yourself. There is a big number of provider with various contract options. In some rental contracts connection for TV is already included, ask your landlord for it. Following we want to give you some information about TV, telephone and internet even though there is no claim for completeness.

In most districts of Dresden ther are two posibilities to get internet and telephone:
- through TV-cable (1)
- through telephone cable from the Telekom (2)

Since there  are no monopolies of providing telephone, internet and TV anymore, you can choose between different provider:
For (1) it is Kabel Deutschland and Telecolumbus. Through this net you usually obtain the TV signal.
For (2) its is Telekom, Vodafone, O2 (Alice), 1&1 and GMX. Some provider also offer the TV signal, depending on the location of your flat.

Here you will find a price comparison and some special offers:
TV, Telephone and Internet in Dresden
Please watch out for the details in those offers, they vary a lot!

Mobile phone

In Germany there are four operators of mobile nets: Telekom, Vodafone, E-Plus and O2. The best net coverage is provided by Telekom and Vodafone. With the provider mentioned above you can either make a contract or buy a
prepaid simcard. Al lot of contracts have a duration of 2 years and contain a new mobile phone. Moreover there is a great number of provider of prepaid and postpaid simcards. A quick overview with a price comparion is given here
(only in German): Mobile Phone 

Call abroad

Both for telephone and mobile phone there are usually offers of afordable options for phone calls abroad.

Call by call

If your telephone provider is Telekom you might use call by call numbers to safe money: Call by call numbers

Prepaid cards and special offers

Cheap foreign calls from any telephone are offered here:
Reisebank 
Toolani 

Calling via internet

Skype - free/cheap calling via internet from Skype to Skype and Skype to telephone: Skype 
Sipgate - free/cheap calling via internet from sipgate to sipgate, telephone to sipgate and sipgate to telephone: Sipgate 

Mobile internet

In Dresden you can also surf in the internet via UMTS or HSDPA with a mobile surfstick. Countless provider with various contract or prepaid options you can find here: Mobile Internet 

New broadcasting fee

A new broadcasting law came into effect on January 1st 2013:

Every household will be charged with a flat rate of 17.98 EUR/ month for all technical devices that are able to receive the programs provided by public-law broadcasting service (ARD, ZDF etc.). The new regulation does not differentiate between the number of technical devices the household possesses or whether these devices are used to receive the public-law programs. The contribution equals the current maximum fee, which means that nothing changes for those who have already registered a TV set. This contribution implies the usage in vehicles.
The contribution is to be paid quarterly.

Who has to pay?
The debtor is the adult occupant, thus every adult person who actually lives in the flat. To avoid definition problems: the occupants are the tenants who are officially notified to the authorities (registered in the city center).

In the case of a flat share - with multiple tenants, the tenants are jointly and severally liable. This means that anyone of the occupants can be made liable for the contribution and, accordingly, pays the full contribution for the other occupants. The other occupants are legally bound to compensate this payment. This means vice versa that the more persons liable to the contribution live in an flat, the smaller the individual share gets. Thereby, it does not matter if the individual has a separate tenancy agreement.

What happens, if I do not pay?
Until recently, the GEZ had to prove that a household possesses and uses TV and radio, which made it easier to avoid the fee. From January 2013 the occupant has to prove that there are no devices that are able to receive the programs distributed by the federal broadcasting institutions in the household.
Caution: Deliberate or negligent non-payment is an administrative offence and can be punished by a fine.

What has to be done?
For more information please have a look on the following pages:
Information Flyer 
Information if the Studentenwerk 

Please register with the following form and send it to the address mentioned in the red box on the right: Registration form