Fraenk in the test: Inexpensive tariff in the Telekom network with more data volume

5 GB LTE in the Telekom network, can be canceled monthly, for 10 euros a month - that's fraenk, the SIM-only tariff from Congstar, which has been reduced to the essentials. You can now also order it as an eSIM. But how good is the tariff? Is there a catch? xiaomist took a closer look at Fraenk.

Update on January 4th, 2021: There is news at fraenk. In mid-December, the Congstar subsidiary increased the maximum upload speed from 5 Mbit / s to 10 Mbit / s. Now there is also more data volume - 5 instead of 4 GB. In addition, with "fraenk for friends" you can permanently increase the monthly inclusive volume by 1 GB per friend by referring friends, with a maximum of 10 GB. We have adapted our article accordingly.

fraenk: Allnet / SMS flat rate & 5 GB LTE in the Telekom network for 10 euros per month

Attention, complicated family relationships: Telekom not only has its own range of cell phones, but also has an additional cell phone subsidiary with Congstar. Congstar, in turn, makes its own services available to other brands, such as the supermarket chains Rewe and Penny. Since April 2020 there has been another sub-brand of Congstar and thus a Telekom "grandson" so to speak: fraenk .

No nonsense, little fine print, just one tariff - these are the guidelines that the fraenk range conveys with its branding. For 10 euros a month, you get 5 GB of LTE data in the Telekom network, all-network telephony and SMS. is that a good offer? Roughly: yes. But there are a few details that you should know and pay attention to. xiaomist clarifies for you what fraenk has to offer, apart from the somewhat strange name.

fraenk: The offer of the mobile phone tariff

The key facts: fraenk offers

SMS and telephony flat rate to all German networks, 5 GB LTE data volume, a maximum download speed of 25 Mbit / s, a maximum of 10 Mbit / s upload, all services in the Telekom network , a fee of 10 euros in Month , monthly cancellation , all services completely digital: ordering by app, paying by PayPal and, if desired, an eSIM .

Let's leave out the sometimes cheaper tariffs in the O2 and Vodafone networks - for some customers there is no alternative to a tariff in the Telekom network. In any case, on paper, fraenk is a good offer, as I said: for the telecommunications network. But not a price breaker, because the prepaid offers from Rewe / ja! mobil and Penny offer tariff options with Allnet-Flat and LTE25 for comparable prices.

Advantages, disadvantages and special features of fraenk

We took a close look at the offer and here are the main advantages and disadvantages compared to other tariffs.

Advantage / disadvantage: everything is digital. Orders are placed via the app (for iPhone and Android). Customer service can only be reached via the Internet. Simple, yes, but also restrictive for some users. Advantage / disadvantage: Everything via PayPal. There are no direct debits, credit cards or other payment options - only PayPal. Again, the lack of options is not necessarily an advantage, even if the majority of those interested will have PayPal. Advantage: Voice over WiFi and VoLTE . Still not commonplace everywhere, here you can make crystal clear calls via the data connection - at least if the cell phone supports it. Advantage: EU roaming in more countries. If you are in another EU country, you can make calls and surf the web under the same conditions as in Switzerland. So far, so required by law. The great thing about fraenk is that in addition to the EU, this is also possible in the non-EU countries Great Britain, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland . Advantage / disadvantage: No calls and SMS abroad. Roaming abroad to call German numbers or to surf on site is no problem. But what if you want to call abroad? fraenk blocks this possibility from the start. Good in itself, because there is a lot of messing around on this path too. But if you're abroad and you want to call a taxi or ping the AirBnB landlord, that won't work. Advantage: Chargeable special numbers are blocked. Almost nobody deliberately calls 0900 and similar numbers, here the loophole for many scams is automatically closed. Advantage: number portability to other providers is free of charge. The cost of transferring phone numbers has been capped by the legislator at EUR 6.82, but fraenk does not charge a fee from the outset. This is fair. Advantage: MMS sending is not possible. Honestly, who needs MMS? Aside from accidentally sent picture messages when iPhone and Android users text each other, there is no real use case for the still nefariously overpriced multimedia messages. With this lock you cannot MMS and consequently you don't have to pay for it. Advantage: eSIM possible. With the virtual SIM card, you can use smartphones, tablets and even some smartwatches even faster and easier. You can also use dual SIM operation for iPhones and other devices. Advantage: data connection after the limit has been reached. At first, fraenk blocked the data connection after the limit was reached - at least if you didn't book any additional data packages that were subject to a fee. In the meantime, however, you can still be reached and surfing at 32 kbit / s. It's slow, but it should be enough for text messaging via WhatsApp. Disadvantage: additional data is expensive. If the data volume is not enough for the whole month, you can book more volume. At 5 euros for 2 GB, that costs a lot of money. Advantage: More data for advertising. You can generate and send an advertising link via fraenk for Friends. If someone takes out a fraenk tariff via this link, both advertisers and those referred receive permanently 1 GB more data volume per month . Depending on how many friends you refer, up to 10 GB are possible, which improves the offer even more. Disadvantage: No 5G, LTE "slow" . LTE is only available at fraenk up to a maximum of 25 Mbit / s. But that should be enough for practically everything you do on your mobile phone - the speed is even enough to watch videos on YouTube, Twitch and Netflix. As a fraenk customer, however, you do not benefit from Telekom's new and increasingly developed 5G network.

Our conclusion too fraenk

The bottom line is that fraenk is a tariff that has a relatively defined target group. Anyone who shops online and is familiar with the Internet will a) be able to live with the restrictions and b) appreciate the fact that with fraenk you can be sure to pay exactly 10 euros every month - practically all factors are for "nasty surprises" has been eliminated in the scope of services. The tariff is primarily intended for people who have WiFi for a large part of the day, for example at home and at work. For commuters, however, the included volume is a bit tight. Abroad you can possibly run into problems, here fraenk should top it up - for example with additional bookable daily options for abroad.

Alternatives to fraenk

The already mentioned prepaid tariffs at Penny and Rewe are good offers where you can even "skip" for a while and still be available. You can also buy and top up completely offline. Both advantages make them useful for children and young people who are supposed to operate their cell phones with their own pocket money. Aside from the Telekom network, there are of course numerous offers that can also be canceled on a monthly basis and are sometimes significantly cheaper, especially with the countless Drillisch brands. More in our overview of the best monthly cancellable mobile phone tariffs.