Sandeep, who is planning to start an MBA here in Mannheim soon, sent me this question which I thought I wuld answer on the blog.

From: sandeep jain
Date: Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 21:24

Hi Fernando

How are you doing?

I am sure you must be at a half way to complete your year end company project.

Fernando had a few questions regarding the Internat and mobile technology in Germany.
How about internet at home (provided by Mannheim) is it free of cost or payable. Is it wireless or we have to arrange for the internet on our own?
Mobile technology. Which is the technology used in germany GSM or CDMA. Are mobile services expensive there? Is it a viable option to use for connecting with family in emergencies?

Thank you .......Sandeep Jain

If you are staying at one of the apartments organized by the Mannheim Business School, like I am, then broadband internet is included. In my case, I have a LAN socket and a very long cable in my apartment, which works very well. In other buildings I hear they have wireless LAN connection. So no worries there.
Furthermore, you have wireless LAN connection all over Campus, either through the university's WLAN or through the b-school's own. Some places in Mannheim also offer free WLAN, like the Star coffee shop on N7.

Germany is GSM country, which is very practical, as you can change operators by simply changing SIM cards, as long as your cell phone is not locked. You can either buy a contract (usually 2 years, gets you a free handset for a fixed monthly price plus extra expenses. You might be able to cancel the contract uppon departing Germany, but you have to make sure of that before signing) or, as I prefer, pay as you go or pre-paid plans.
I am a happy customer of Symio, a pre-paid provider based on the internet. Their plans are simple and the prices are good, so far I am happy, even though there was a great deal of confusion when I decided to change from GPRS SIM card to a UMTS one.
This means, of course, that I use my cell phone for internet on the go: maps, e-mail, twitter, reading, news, train schedules, IM, etc. Works pretty well on my Nokia E61 and the Symio internet price is unbeatable: 0,24€ per MB. That means that my weekly internet bills are usually below 2€, even with daily internet use.
Call prices are 0,09€ per minute any number in Germany. To Symio number it is even cheaper, but I have no idea who of my friends also use Symio. And SMS is also 9 cents.
For international calls, I use Skype Out. Other alternatives are the several call shops available downtown and near the train station. rAtes are just cents per minute, if I am not mistaken.
Now let me put a link in this post and continue our project work.

There is a kind of an institute in Stuttgart aimed towards start-up companies which has a series of interesting events for those who want to learn a bit more about the venture capital industry in Germany.

I am going tomorrow to the following event, if everything works out:

bwcon: Business Roundtable „Was macht ein Business Angel? – Unterstützungsansätze für Technologieunternehmen am Beispiel der FUZZY! Informatik AG“

I have this week free, as I am not taking the EC Law course at Mannheim Business School and the activity tomorrow is part of my job search. I hope to learn some and meet interesting professionals, let's see how it goes. But all this has costs:

• I will not be able to attend to the company presentation of Deutsche Börse AG at MBS and
• I will invest almost €100,00 in the event, which, at the moment, is a considerable sum for a student with a bank loan like me

But it should be worth it. No pain, no gain.

Well, one of the aims of this MBA blog is to record some practical information which might be useful for future MBA candidates. So I'll start in Mannheim, after having spent a week there.
It is of course important to have an idea of the costs for food and beverages. And these costs are difficult to find on the internet.
The first meal I took at the EO, which is the smaller cafeteria in the castle, very trendy and well thought of. There you also have WLAN access, so people go there to study and work while drinking a coffee. But it is a bit noisy during lunch hours.
If you go there and pay cash, you'll pay the normal price. If you get an eccum card and load it with credit, you get the discounted price, 20% off. Since I didn't have my card on Tuesday, I payed the normal price.
I spent about €9,50 for this first meal. It was a good meal with salad, pasta and meat. Additionally, I drank a Bionade, which is a German soft drink I recommend. Well, it is not cheap, but it isn't expensive either. My aim is to spend less than that in the future, but it was OK on Tuesday, since it is very conveniently located, a good place to go if you don't have much time.
I also bought sandwiches there on Friday, at about €2,50 each. The sandwiches were excellent, I have to say.
Another option in Mannheim is the main cafeteria, or Mensa. There you have 4 different menus, including vegetarian. I don't know the prices exactly, but I guess you can eat for less than €5,00 without beverage.
We went once to eat at an Indian fast food. I paid around €5,00 with beverage (or Getränk), which was a good price. The restaurant is located about 3 blocks from the Villa, and I ordered the small dish, which was more than enough for me, and quite tasty.
Well, that's it for now. I hope this blog develops well and the info is useful.