Internet in Germany
This article's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. (March 2024) |
The prevalent means of connecting to the Internet in Germany is
are available as alternatives.DSL
In Germany, DSL is the prevalent internet access technology with over 30 million subscribers. For residential services the Annex B versions of
As of January 2014, a typical monthly cost for "dual flat rate" internet and telephone service start at €25 for ADSL2+ (16 Mbit/s downlink, 1 Mbit/s uplink) and €30 for VDSL2 (50 Mbit/s downlink, 10 Mbit/s uplink).[2][3] Some of the major nationwide DSL providers are:[1]
- Deutsche Telekom
- 1&1
- Vodafone
- o2
- Versatel
Providers such as Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone also offer DSL-based triple-play services with IPTV, which requires at least 16 Mbit/s for HD quality.
Starting in 2013, all newly deployed Deutsche Telekom VDSL2
Symmetric DSL (SDSL) connections using
Cable
According to a statistic from Statista, Vodafone, Germany's largest cable internet provider, had 7.65 Million cable internet customers at the end of Q2, 2020. Though still significantly lower the amount of DSL customers, this number has risen in recent years. This is likely due to the higher maximum speeds compared to DSL and relatively well priced plans.
Alternative technologies
While DSL and Cable are the prevalent connection technology in Germany, other technologies may offer lower prices or better availability and speed.
FTTH and FTTB
Deutsche Telekom started offering
Satellite
Satellite internet is geographically more widely available than land-based technologies. In places where land-based internet access technology (DSL, cable, FTTx) is not available, satellite and UMTS/LTE are the primary means of high-speed internet access. As opposed to UMTS/LTE, satellite internet providers offer flat rates.[13]
UMTS/HSDPA and LTE
Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone offer fixed location internet service on their UMTS and LTE networks.[14][15] As of December 2014, there are no flatrates available. The included data volume is generally higher for fixed location service than for mobile service at the same price point. As of December 2014, both Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone limit the speed to 384 kbit/s after the data volume of between 10 and 30 GB is used up.[14][15]
UMTS/HSDPA with up to 42.2 Mbit/s and LTE with up to 375 Mbit/s is offered by all four network operators: Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, o2, and E-Plus. In 2013, Chip measured average downstream UMTS/GPRS data rates of between 2.4 and 7.9 Mbit/s and average downstream LTE/UMTS/GPRS data rates of between 3.2 and 16.0 Mbit/s, depending on both provider and location (rural vs. city).[16] In the same test, LTE coverage was measured at between 15% and 80%, depending on provider and location (rural vs. city).[16] A typical 2-year contract with 2 GB of LTE speed, unlimited minutes and texts costs around €40 per month.[17][18]
History
Early history
The first Internet email from the US to Germany was sent in 1984.[19] Germany was the third country on CSNET, after the U.S. initiated the network in 1981 and Israel joined earlier in 1984.[20][nb 1]
The postal service Deutsche Bundespost held a monopoly on telecommunications until 1989. Thereafter, Deutsche Telekom was spun off as a separate company, in preparation for the privatization of the postal service. As a government run and owned corporation, Deutsche Telekom effectively remained the monopoly ISP until its privatization in 1995, and the dominant ISP thereafter.[21] Until the 21st century, Deutsche Telekom controlled almost all Internet access by individuals and small businesses.[21]
Bildschirmtext (BTX) was an early data network service offered by Deutsche Bundespost starting in 1983. Later, under the tenure of Deutsche Telekom, it was marketed as an alternative to the Internet, but was discontinued by 2001.[22]
DSL
Prior to the introduction of DSL and cable internet, voice-band
In 1998, the
Cable
Cable internet access in Germany began with pilot projects in December 2003 and wide deployment followed in late 2004.[31] A number of political reasons prevented an earlier market adoption of cable internet in Germany.[32] Until 2001, Deutsche Telekom was the monopoly owner of the German coax cable network, and had no intention to offer in-house competition to its DSL service.[32] Pressure from regulatory agencies forced Deutsche Telekom to sell its cable network, however Deutsche Telekom took measures to delay a possible cable internet offering.[32]
LTE
LTE internet access was introduced by Deutsche Telekom in 2010 and by Vodafone in 2011.
Internet censorship and surveillance
Internet censorship in Germany is practiced by law as well as the effect of some court decisions. An example of content censored by law is the
Most cases of Internet censorship in Germany, however, occur after
Notes
- TCP/IPfor connection since 1982.
See also
References
- ^ a b "Q2 2014: Kabel Deutschland überholt o2 DSL bei Zahl der Breitband-Kundenverträge" [Q3 2013: Kabel Deutschland overtakes o2 DSL in number of broadband subscribers]. DSLWEB Breitband Report Deutschland (in German). dslweb.de. 2014. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
- ^ "Vertragsrechner Festnetz Telefon und Internet via VDSL, DSL, Breitbandkabel (16000+)" [Cost calculator for telephone and Internet via VDSL, DSL, cable (16000+)] (in German). teltarif.de. Retrieved 2014-01-05.
- ^ "Vertragsrechner Festnetz Telefon und Internet via VDSL, DSL, Breitbandkabel (50000+)" [Cost calculator for telephone and Internet via VDSL, DSL, cable (50000+)] (in German). teltarif.de. Retrieved 2014-01-05.
- ^ Neuhetzki, Thorsten (2013-11-18). "Telekom: Erste Städte "ready" für schnelles Internet mit 100 MBit/s" [First cities are "ready" for speedy 100 MBit/s Internet] (in German). teltarif.de. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
- ^ a b Neuhetzki, Thorsten (2014-08-28). "Telekom: Schnelles Internet mit VDSL 100 ab heute in 20 Ortsnetzen möglich" [Deutsche Telekom: Fast internet with VDSL 100 now available in 20 exchange areas] (in German). teltarif.de. Retrieved 2014-08-29.
- ^ Neuhetzki, Thorsten (2014-10-19). "Telekom: VDSL 100 kommt in Großstädten erst 2016" [Telekom: VDSL 100 in major cities in 2016] (in German). teltarif.de. Retrieved 2015-02-08.
- ^ Deutschbein, Rita (2014-02-15). "Mehr Tempo in Kupferleitungen: Telekom will G.fast-Technik noch dieses Jahr testen" [More speed via copper: Telekom to test G.fast technology this year] (in German). teltarif.de. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
- ^ "Unitymedia Kabel BW: Geschwindigkeit auf 200 Mbit/s erhöht und Horizon-Verfügbarkeit ausgebaut" [Unity Media, Kabel BW: Speed increased to 200 Mbit / s and expanded Horizon availability] (in German). Mobiflip.de. Retrieved 2014-10-25.
- ^ "Vodafone bietet bis zu 400 MBit/s im Kabelnetz" [Vodafone offers up to 400 mbit/s] (in German). Internetanbieter.de. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
- ^ Neuhetzki, Thorsten (2011-04-07). "FTTH: Glasfaser-Anschluss der Telekom kostet offenbar 54,95 Euro" [FTTH: Fiber optic Internet from Deutsche Telekom is apparently going to cost 54.95 Euro] (in German). teltarif.de. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
- ^ Sawall, Achim (2014-01-03). "Deutschland braucht das schnellste Netz der Welt" [Germany needs the world's fastest network] (in German). golem.de. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
- ^ "Call & Surf Comfort Pakete" [Call & Surf Comfort packages] (in German). Deutsche Telekom. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
- ^ "skyDSL2+ FLAT S". skyDSL Flat, Tarife und Tarifübersicht (in German). skyDSL Deutschland. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
- ^ a b "Call & Surf Comfort via Funk: Highspeed surfen im besten LTE Netz!" (in German). Deutsche Telekom. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
- ^ a b "Vodafone RealLTE". Vodafone. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
- ^ a b "Der härteste Handy-Netztest Deutschlands: Telekom, Vodafone, O2 und E-Plus im Test" [The toughest mobile network test in Germany: Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, O2, and E-Plus under test] (in German). chip.de. 2013-09-02. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
- ^ "o2 Blue All-in L" (in German). Telefónica Germany. Archived from the original on 2013-10-31. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
- ^ "Handytarife-Rechner für mobiles Telefonieren, SMS und mobiles Internet" [Cost calculator for mobile telephone, SMS, and Internet (voice flat, text flat, 2 GB)] (in German). teltarif.de. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
- ^ "Historic First Email From U.S. to Germany Arrives in 1984 | Internet Hall of Fame". www.internethalloffame.org. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
- ^ "Willkommen im CSNET!": Kurze Geschichte der ersten deutschen Internet E-Mail on kit.edu
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84376-135-8.
- ^ de:Bildschirmtext
- ^ "ISDN-Verbreitung" [ISDN market adoption] (PDF), Studie (in German), DE: BMBF, archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-02
- ^ a b c de:DSL (Telekom)
- ^ a b de:Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line#VDSL2 in Deutschland
- ^ Mansmann, Urs (2012-02-21). "Telekom beginnt mit Umstellung herkömmlicher Telefonanschlüsse auf VoIP" [Deutsche Telekom starts transitioning POTS service to VoIP] (in German). heise.de. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
- ^ a b de:Entbündelung
- ^ de:Bitstromzugang
- ^ a b c de:T-DSL-Resale
- ^ Neuhetzki, Thorsten (2014-07-30). "VDSL Vectoring: Die Ausbau-Liste für schnelles Internet startet" [VDSL Vectoring: Deployment list for fast broadband introduced]. teltarif.de. Retrieved 2015-02-08.
- ^ de:Kabel Deutschland#Geschichte
- ^ a b c de:Netzebene (Kabelfernsehen)#Betreiber und neuere Entwicklung
- ^ a b de:Digitale Dividende
- ^ Efroni, Zohar (16 November 2008). "German Court Orders to Block Wikipedia.de Due to Offending Article". Center for Internet and Society Blog. Stanford University Law School. Retrieved 18 March 2010.