Prepaid cards in Austria: Calling and surfing abroad

Just around the corner and with an incredible number of beautiful sights. Austria is not only perfect for the beautiful mountain landscapes and skiing holidays, but also offers incredibly beautiful city trips such as Vienna, Hallstatt, Salzburg, Linz, Tyrol and many more. In summer, Austria is known as a holiday destination for the breathtaking landscape, beautiful hikes in the mountains or trying to immerse yourself in the old imperial era. In winter, it is mainly for winter sports.

This makes Austria a worthwhile destination for camping holidays all year round.

However, as with every vacation, the question always remains as to how the internet works in the respective country. After all, Italy has always been part of the EU (since 1995 to be precise) and so we can continue to use our German mobile phone tariff as normal with the EU roaming regulations from 2017. On the condition that your mobile phone contract or tariff includes EU roaming.
But if the EU roaming regulation has been in effect since 2017, why still need a foreign SIM card?

In fact, not every German tariff offers EU roaming and some may not even have a flat rate. In this case, it makes a lot of sense to get a foreign card. Especially since prepaid card prices abroad are much cheaper than here in Germany.

So if you don't have EU roaming, you can buy an Austrian SIM card in Austria for little money and book the relevant tariffs. This means you are no longer dependent on the WiFi at campsites and you can park your camper or caravan more freely and make calls and surf the internet at any time.

Since September 1, 2019, all SIM cards in Austria must be registered with a name. If the card is not registered on time, the credit can no longer be topped up after a short period of time. No ID is required when purchasing a SIM card, so you can still buy cards for friends or family members. We recommend registering online for free, as there are some retailers who charge €5 for this.

Data for registration:

• First name Last Name
• Academic degree
• birth date

Information about your place of residence is not necessary!

The prepaid cards are extremely inexpensive in Austria and are worth it even if you are staying for several days. Unfortunately, you cannot order the prepaid cards to Germany. So if you plan to spend the first few days on holiday at a campsite, you can send the cards you ordered directly to the campsite and pick them up at reception when you arrive. Otherwise, the prepaid cards are also available in the usual mobile phone provider shops. But also in supermarkets, electronics stores and petrol stations.

Hot Hofer Telekom

In Germany it is called Aldi Talk and in Austria the mobile operator is called Hot. Hot's tariffs are really very attractive, as you can get 7GB for just €5.90 or 17GB (+18G data reserve) for €14.90. The offers actually usually offer more than you might think at first glance. Both their bestseller and their super deal tariffs are advertised with 15GB & 17GB. In fact, with the additional data reserve you can activate another 5G (for the 15GB) or even 18GB (for the 17GB) for free. You simply activate this data reserve via SMS as soon as you have used up your data volume.

You can find all other hot tariffs and offers here on the Hofer Telekom website .

Yesss! The mobile phone discounter

As a discounter, it lives up to its name, because the rates here at Yesss! are really attractive. Here you can get 20GB for just €9.99 or 30GB for €14.99. In terms of data volume, the package is very similar to Hot from Hofer Telekom. However, Yesss! offers a larger package with 1500 free minutes/free SMS and faster internet with 150Mbit/s. A huge plus point with Yesss! is that the remaining data volume at the end of the term is automatically carried over to the following month when you extend. Please note, however, that the SIM cards are not sent abroad. In this case, you would have to check whether the card could be sent to the campsite you have booked.

For those who have used up their data volume faster than planned, there are some great additional packages . For example, you can get 1GB for just €4 or 5GB for €5.99.
Check out all Yesss! tariffs here.

B.free from A1

A1 Telekom Austria is one of Austria's largest mobile phone providers. The B.free tariffs are A1's prepaid tariffs and offer a good range of small to large packages.

Another additional package from B.free is the Data Happy Hour. Here you can surf unlimitedly for one hour for just €0.90.
If you have used up your data volume, you can also book additional packages with B.free . These are significantly more expensive here compared to other discounters. For example, 1GB of data costs €5 or 5GB costs €9.

All additional packages can be easily activated with an SMS, which is incredibly easy to use.

Lidl Connect

At Lidl you can not only refill your camper kitchen, but also get a great deal on your mobile phone plan when you arrive. At Lidl Connect, the XXL tariff is an absolute top offer. For just €17.50 you get 45GB with a speed of 150Mbit/s and 2000 free minutes/SMS.

Lyca Mobile

Lyca Mobile is actually a British telecommunications company and has been operating in Austria since 2013. Lyca Mobile uses the A1 network, which is a subsidiary of Telekom Austria. Lyca Mobile has also been operating in Germany since 2011, but their offerings are hidden behind Vodafone and they use the mobile phone code 01521.

Even though the National package with 60GB for just €14.90 is incredibly attractive, we unfortunately cannot find anything about the speed. Only after asking in the online chat (in English only) did we get the information that the National S, M & L packages have a data speed of 18.2 mbps. At first this seems shockingly low, but 18.2 Mbit corresponds to the standard 145.6 Mbit/s. An upload of 6.2 mbps corresponds to 49.6 Mbit/s.

However, these telephone and SMS packages are all limited to Austria itself. Lyca Mobile also offers attractive tariff packages for your camping trip in the EU.

S-Budget tariffs from Spar

Our last result for cell phone tariffs from our research is again from a supermarket. Spar also offers great prepaid offers. Unlike other providers, you can buy your SIM card and tariff straight away at the checkout. As with Yesss!, your unused data volume is automatically carried over into the following month as long as you have booked another tariff for the following month. However, your data storage only accumulates up to a maximum of 40GB.

You can find all other Spar tariffs here.