Wikipedia

Internet in Germany

The main form of Internet access in Germany is DSL, introduced by Deutsche Telekom in 1999. Other technologies such as cable, FTTH and FTTB (fiber), satellite, and mobile access via UMTS, HSDPA, and LTE are also in use.

DSL

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DSL is the dominant internet access technology in Germany, with more than 30 million subscribers. For residential services, the Annex B versions of ADSL, ADSL2+, and VDSL2 are most common. Deutsche Telekom, with over 12 million customers, is the market leader.[1]

Other DSL providers either operate their own hardware on local loops rented from Deutsche Telekom through local loop unbundling (LLU), or purchase bit-stream access from wholesale providers. End users typically connect their modem through a standard TAE connector socket.

As of April 2024, typical monthly prices for combined internet and telephone service start at about €25 for ADSL2+ (16 Mbit/s down, 1 Mbit/s up) and €30 for VDSL2 (50 Mbit/s down, 10 Mbit/s up).[2][3]

Major nationwide DSL providers include:[1]

Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone also offer DSL-based triple-play bundles with IPTV, which generally require at least 16 Mbit/s for HD quality.

Since 2013, all newly deployed Deutsche Telekom VDSL2 nodes have supported G.vector technology.[4] In August 2014, vectored VDSL2 service with up to 100 Mbit/s downstream and 40 Mbit/s upstream became available.[5] Existing deployments in major cities were upgraded to G.vector in 2016.[6] Deutsche Telekom introduced a 500 Mbit/s service in September 2017, with an initial monthly price of €119.95.[7]

Symmetric DSL (SDSL), based on G.shdsl technology, is marketed primarily to business customers. Providers offering SDSL include Deutsche Telekom, QSC, and Versatel.

Cable

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According to Statista, Vodafone, Germany's largest cable internet provider, had 7.65 million cable internet customers at the end of Q2 2020. Although this figure is significantly lower than the number of DSL customers, it has increased in recent years, likely due to higher maximum speeds and comparatively low prices.

Cable internet is offered by Kabel Deutschland and Unitymedia (operating in different regions), both of which are now owned by Vodafone. Other providers with more limited coverage include Tele Columbus’s subsidiary, PYUR. Since November 2014, Unitymedia and Kabel Deutschland have offered connections with downstream speeds of up to 200 Mbit/s.[7] Unitymedia introduced 400 Mbit/s connections in January 2016, and Vodafone Kabel Deutschland followed in June 2016.[8]

As of January 2021, both companies offer cable internet with downstream speeds of up to 1000 Mbit/s. Prices start at €49.99 per month from Vodafone and €88 per month from PYUR (excluding temporary discounts for new customers). Vodafone reports the widest nationwide availability for gigabit connections, reaching 22 million households as of 2021.[9] Upload speeds of up to 50 Mbit/s are also offered. These services use DOCSIS 3.1 with backward compatibility for EuroDOCSIS 3.0. Vodafone has announced plans for DOCSIS 4.0 field tests, supporting up to 10 Gbit/s downstream and 6 Gbit/s upstream, once new hardware becomes available.

Cable internet is currently the most widely available form of gigabit access for residential customers, although fiber-optic connections can provide comparable or faster speeds in an expanding but still geographically limited number of regions.

Alternative technologies

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While DSL and cable are the predominant internet access technologies in Germany, other options may offer lower prices, wider availability, or higher speeds.

FTTH and FTTB

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Deutsche Telekom began offering FTTH/FTTB in selected regions in 2011, with speeds of up to 200 Mbit/s downstream and 100 Mbit/s upstream.[10] As of January 2014, Deutsche Telekom FTTH was available in about 884,000 households, priced at €55 for 100/50 Mbit/s and €60 for 200/100 Mbit/s service.[11][12]

Regional providers also offer FTTH/FTTB, including M-Net in Munich, wilhelm.tel in Hamburg, NetCologne in Cologne, and NetAachen [de] in Aachen. Since late 2018, additional providers, including Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Greenfiber, Deutsche Glasfaser, and 1&1, have expanded fiber availability. As of May 2021, fiber networks in some regions offered speeds of up to 10,000 Mbit/s.

Satellite

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Satellite internet is more widely available than land-based technologies. In areas without DSL, cable, or FTTx coverage, satellite and UMTS/LTE are the primary options for broadband access. Unlike UMTS/LTE, satellite internet providers typically offer flat-rate plans.[13]

UMTS/HSDPA and LTE

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Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone provide fixed-___location internet services on their UMTS and LTE networks.[14][15] As of December 2014, no flat rates were available. Data allowances for fixed-___location service were typically larger than for mobile service at comparable price levels. After exceeding monthly allowances of 10–30 GB, speeds were reduced to 384 kbit/s.[14][15]

UMTS/HSDPA (up to 42.2 Mbit/s downstream) and LTE (up to 375 Mbit/s downstream) were offered by all four network operators: Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, o2, and E-Plus. In 2013, Chip measured average downstream UMTS/GPRS rates between 2.4 and 7.9 Mbit/s, and LTE/UMTS/GPRS rates between 3.2 and 16.0 Mbit/s, depending on provider and region (rural vs. urban).[16] In the same study, LTE coverage ranged from 15% to 80%, depending on provider and region.[16]

As of 2025, typical mobile contracts with 10 GB of LTE/5G data, unlimited calls, and text messages start at around €5 per month.[17]

History

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Early history

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The first internet email from the United States to Germany was sent in 1984.[18] Germany became the third country to join CSNET, after the United States initiated the network in 1981 and Israel joined earlier in 1984.[19][nb 1]

The postal service Deutsche Bundespost held a monopoly on telecommunications until 1989. That year, Deutsche Telekom was spun off as a separate company in preparation for privatization. As a government-owned corporation, Deutsche Telekom remained the monopoly internet service provider (ISP) until its privatization in 1995, and it continued to dominate the market thereafter.[20] Until the early 2000s, Deutsche Telekom controlled almost all internet access for individuals and small businesses.[20]

Bildschirmtext (BTX), introduced by Deutsche Bundespost in 1983, was an early videotex service. Under Deutsche Telekom it was marketed as an alternative to the internet, but it was discontinued in 2001.[21]

DSL

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Before the introduction of DSL and cable internet, voice-band modems and ISDN BRI were the most common residential access technologies. ISDN adoption was widespread, with 333 ISDN BRIs per 1,000 inhabitants in 2005.[22]

DSL was introduced by Deutsche Telekom on 1 July 1999 under the brand name T-DSL, with speeds of 768 kbit/s downstream and 128 kbit/s upstream.[23] Deutsche Telekom gradually increased speeds: 1536/192 kbit/s in 2002, 3072/384 kbit/s in 2004, and 6016/576 kbit/s in 2005.[24] In 2006 it introduced ADSL2+ (16,000/1024 kbit/s) and VDSL2 (50,000/10,000 kbit/s) with triple-play services under the brand Entertain.[25] VDSL2 service without IPTV followed in 2009.[26]

In 2011, Deutsche Telekom introduced Voice over IP (VoIP) over ADSL2+ Annex J. In February 2013, it began migrating POTS and ISDN subscribers to VoIP.[27] In August 2014, Deutsche Telekom introduced vectored VDSL2 using G.vector technology, with speeds of 100/40 Mbit/s.[5]

In 1998, the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA) introduced regulations for local loop unbundling. This enabled providers such as Vodafone, O2, QSC, and Versatel to rent the local loop from Deutsche Telekom and operate their own access networks.[28] Competing ISPs either offered services directly or resold bitstream access from other providers.[29] To compete with POTS and ISDN, alternative ISPs bundled DSL with VoIP under the label Komplettanschluss.[30]

Starting in 2004, Deutsche Telekom provided IP-level bitstream access under the name T-DSL resale.[31] Initially, this required a Deutsche Telekom POTS or ISDN subscription.[32] In July 2008, Deutsche Telekom introduced bitstream access that did not require POTS or ISDN, enabling competitors to offer bundled internet and VoIP service.[33]

Because G.vector is incompatible with local loop unbundling, BNetzA created a “vectoring list.” This allowed providers to claim cabinets on a first-come, first-served basis, while requiring those providers to offer bit-stream access to competitors.[34]

Cable

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Cable internet access in Germany began with pilot projects in December 2003, followed by wider deployment in late 2004.[35] Earlier adoption was delayed by political and regulatory factors.[36] Until 2001, Deutsche Telekom owned the national coaxial cable network and avoided introducing cable internet to prevent competition with DSL.[37] Regulatory pressure eventually forced Deutsche Telekom to sell the network, though the company attempted to delay the introduction of cable internet.[38]

LTE

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LTE internet access was introduced by Deutsche Telekom in 2010 and by Vodafone in 2011.[39] As part of the 2010 spectrum auction, the Federal Network Agency required bidders to use newly acquired spectrum to provide broadband service in underserved areas.[40] For this purpose, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone introduced fixed-___location LTE service.

Internet censorship and surveillance

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Main articles: Internet censorship in Germany and Internet censorship

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 removal of web sites from Google search results that deny the holocaust, which is a felony under German law.[citation needed]

Most cases of Internet censorship in Germany, however, occur after state court rulings. One example is a 2009 court order, forbidding German Wikipedia to disclose the identity of Wolfgang Werlé and Manfred Lauber, two criminals convicted of the murder of the Bavarian actor Walter Sedlmayr. In another case, Wikipedia.de (an Internet ___domain run by Wikimedia Deutschland) was prohibited from pointing to the actual Wikipedia content. The court order was as a temporary injunction in a case filed by politician Lutz Heilmann over claims in a German Wikipedia article regarding his past involvement with the former German Democratic Republic's intelligence service Stasi.[41]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Norway and the United Kingdom had been on the ARPANET since 1973 and had used TCP/IP since 1982.

References

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ "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.
  3. ^ "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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ a b "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.
  8. ^ "Vodafone bietet bis zu 400 MBit/s im Kabelnetz" [Vodafone offers up to 400 Mbit/s] (in German). Internetanbieter.de. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
  9. ^ "Für Deutschland: 22 Millionen Gigabit-Anschlüsse – Ausbau in 13 Bundesländern vollendet". Vodafone. Retrieved 2021-01-20.
  10. ^ Neuhetzki, Thorsten (2011-04-07). "FTTH: Glasfaser-Anschluss der Telekom kostet 54,95 Euro" [FTTH: Fiber optic connection from Deutsche Telekom costs €54.95]. Teltarif.de (in German). Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  11. ^ Sawall, Achim (2014-01-03). "Deutschland braucht das schnellste Netz der Welt" [Germany needs the world's fastest network]. Golem.de (in German). Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  12. ^ "Call & Surf Comfort Pakete" [Call & Surf Comfort packages]. Deutsche Telekom (in German). Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  13. ^ "skyDSL2+ FLAT S". SkyDSL Deutschland (in German). Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  14. ^ a b "Call & Surf Comfort via Funk" [Call & Surf Comfort via wireless broadband]. Deutsche Telekom (in German). Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  15. ^ a b "Vodafone RealLTE". Vodafone. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  16. ^ a b "Der härteste Handy-Netztest Deutschlands: Telekom, Vodafone, O2 und E-Plus im Test" [Germany’s toughest mobile network test: Telekom, Vodafone, O2, and E-Plus]. Chip.de (in German). 2013-09-02. Retrieved 2014-02-18.
  17. ^ "Allnet Flats im Vergleich ab 10 GB" [Comparison of mobile flat-rate plans from 10 GB]. Internetanbieter.de (in German). Retrieved 2025-08-06.
  18. ^ "Historic first email from U.S. to Germany arrives in 1984". Internet Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  19. ^ ""Willkommen im CSNET!": Kurze Geschichte der ersten deutschen Internet-E-Mail". Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  20. ^ a b Waesche, Niko Marcel (2003). Internet Entrepreneurship in Europe: Venture Failure and the Timing of Telecommunications Reform. Edward Elgar Publishing. pp. 162–164. ISBN 978-1-84376-135-8.
  21. ^ "Bildschirmtext". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  22. ^ "ISDN-Verbreitung" [ISDN market adoption] (PDF). Studie (in German). Germany: BMBF. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-02. Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  23. ^ "DSL (Telekom)". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  24. ^ "DSL (Telekom)". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  25. ^ "VDSL2 in Deutschland". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  26. ^ "VDSL2 in Deutschland". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  27. ^ Mansmann, Urs (2012-02-21). "Telekom beginnt mit Umstellung herkömmlicher Telefonanschlüsse auf VoIP" [Deutsche Telekom begins switching POTS lines to VoIP]. Heise.de (in German). Retrieved 2014-01-04.
  28. ^ "Entbündelung". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  29. ^ "Bitstromzugang". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  30. ^ "Entbündelung". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  31. ^ "T-DSL Resale". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  32. ^ "T-DSL Resale". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  33. ^ "T-DSL Resale". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  34. ^ Neuhetzki, Thorsten (2014-07-30). "VDSL Vectoring: Die Ausbau-Liste für schnelles Internet startet" [VDSL vectoring: Deployment list for fast broadband introduced]. Teltarif.de (in German). Retrieved 2015-02-08.
  35. ^ "Kabel Deutschland – Geschichte". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  36. ^ "Netzebene (Kabelfernsehen) – Betreiber und neuere Entwicklung". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  37. ^ "Netzebene (Kabelfernsehen) – Betreiber und neuere Entwicklung". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  38. ^ "Netzebene (Kabelfernsehen) – Betreiber und neuere Entwicklung". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  39. ^ "Digitale Dividende". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  40. ^ "Digitale Dividende". German Wikipedia (in German). Retrieved 2020-04-03.
  41. ^ 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. Archived from the original on 22 July 2010. Retrieved 18 March 2010.
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