Internet in Germany
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The prevalent means of connecting to the Internet in Germany is
DSL Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric dig ...
, introduced by
Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
in 1999. Other technologies such as
Cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
,
FTTH Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber op ...
and
FTTB Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber optic ...
(
fiber Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorporate ...
),
Satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...
,
UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Inte ...
/
HSDPA High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is an amalgamation of two mobile protocols—High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)—that extends and improves the performance of existing 3G mobile telecommunicat ...
(
mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...
) and LTE 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
ADSL Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is a type of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. ...
,
ADSL2+ G.992.5 (also referred to as ADSL2+, G.dmt.bis+, and G.adslplus) is an ITU-T standard for asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) broadband Internet access. The standard has a maximum theoretical downstream sync speed of 24 megabits per secon ...
, and
VDSL2 Very high-speed digital subscriber line (VDSL) and very high-speed digital subscriber line 2 (VDSL2) are digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies providing data transmission faster than the earlier standards of asymmetric digital subscriber lin ...
are used. With over 12 million customers the incumbent
Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
is the market leader. Other DSL providers either operate their own hardware on local loops rented from the incumbent in a
local loop unbundling Local loop unbundling (LLU or LLUB) is the regulatory process of allowing multiple telecommunications operators to use connections from the telephone exchange to the customer's premises. The physical wire connection between the local exchange and ...
(LLU) arrangement, and/or purchase
bit-stream access Bit-stream access refers to the situation where a wireline incumbent installs a high-speed access link to the customer's premises (e.g., by installing ADSL equipment in the local access network) and then makes this access link available to third ...
from a provider that operates DSL hardware. The end user typically expects a
TAE connector TAE (''Telekommunikations-Anschluss-Einheit'' or telecommunications connection unit) is the German standard for telephone plugs and sockets. The standard covers two TAE types: F  ("Fernsprechgerät": for telephones) and N  ("Nebengerà ...
socket to connect their modem. As of January 2014, a typical monthly cost for "dual flatrate" 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). Some of the major nationwide DSL providers are: *
Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
**
Congstar Congstar GmbH is a mobile network operator headquartered in Cologne, Germany. The company is a subsidiary of Telekom Deutschland, and specializes in discount mobile phone service marketed to younger people. In August 2014, Congstar's services had a ...
* 1&1 *
Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
* o2 * Versatel Providers such as Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone also offer DSL-based
triple play In baseball, a triple play (denoted as TP in baseball statistics) is the act of making three outs during the same play. There have only been 733 triple plays in Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1876, an average of just over five per season. Th ...
services with IPTV, which requires at least 16 Mbit/s for HD quality. Starting in 2013, all newly deployed Deutsche Telekom VDSL2
nodes In general, a node is a localized swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a Vertex (graph theory), vertex). Node may refer to: In mathematics *Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph *Vertex (geometry), a point where two ...
support
G.vector Very high-speed digital subscriber line (VDSL) and very high-speed digital subscriber line 2 (VDSL2) are digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies providing data transmission faster than the earlier standards of asymmetric digital subscriber lin ...
technology. Beginning in August 2014, vectored VDSL2 service with data rates of up to 100 Mbit/s downlink and 40 Mbit/s uplink is available from Deutsche Telekom. Existing VDSL2 deployments in major cities will be upgraded to G.vector in 2016. Deutsche Telekom is planning to introduce 500 Mbit/s service using
G.fast G.fast is a digital subscriber line (DSL) protocol standard for local loops shorter than 500 meters, with performance targets between 100 Mbit/s and 1 Gbit/s, depending on loop length. High speeds are only achieved over very short ...
in 2017 at the earliest. Symmetric DSL (SDSL) connections using G.shdsl technology are marketed to business customers. Providers offering SDSL include Deutsche Telekom, QSC, and
Versatel Tele2 Netherlands (formerly ''Versatel Telecom International N.V'') is a brand name of telecommunications company T-Mobile Netherlands, operating on the Dutch and Belgian market. It sells fixed telephony, mobile telephony, broadband internet and d ...
.


Cable

According to
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. Internet via cable is offered by
Kabel Deutschland Vodafone Kabel Deutschland GmbH is the largest cable television operator in Germany. Kabel Deutschland was subject to a hostile takeover bid by the British Vodafone Group in September 2013; the deal was approved in December 2013 and finalised on ...
and
Unitymedia Vodafone GmbH is a mobile telecommunications operator in Germany headquartered in Düsseldorf. It provides mobile phone, LTE, 5G, cable internet, landlines, cable TV, and IPTV services. As of the third quarter of 2021, Vodafone GmbH has more ...
(separated geographically), both of which are now owned by
Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
. There are other smaller providers that do not operate nationwide, such as
Tele Columbus Tele Columbus is a large cable provider in Germany with 3.6 million connected households on network level 4. The company was formed in November 2006 following the merger of Tele Columbus GmbH and ewt multimedia GmbH. In 2015, Tele Columbus acqui ...
's child company, PYUR. Since November 2014 both Unitymedia and Kabel Deutschland offer connections with up to 200Mbit/s in downstream. Unitymedia started its 400 Mbit/s connections in January 2016, Vodafone Kabel Deutschland offers 400 Mbit/s since June 2016. As of January 2021, both companies offer cable internet up to 1000 Mbit/s costing ''(not incl. special offers for new customers or similar)'' €88 per month from PYUR and €49.99 per month from Vodafone. Vodafone has the highest nationwide availability for gigabit internet, now at 22 million households according to a
update
from Vodafone. Both companies also offer upload speeds up to 50 Mbit/s. These plans currently use DOCSIS 3.1, with support for EuroDOCSIS 3.0. Vodafone plans the first field tests of DOCSIS 4.0 (with support for up to 10 Gbit/s downstream and 6 Gbit/s upstream) as soon as the new hardware generation becomes available. These should be available before 2022 at the Düsseldorfer Digitalisierungskonzern. Cable internet is currently the most readily available way to get gigabit internet as a private customer, however fiber internet offers the same or faster speeds in a growing but still limited list of regions.


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
FTTH Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber op ...
/
FTTB Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber optic ...
in select regions in 2011, with up to 200 Mbit/s downstream and 100 Mbit/s upstream. As of January 2014, Deutsche Telekom FTTH was available in 884,000 households, at a price point of €55 for 100/50 Mbit/s and €60 for 200/100 Mbit/s service. Regional providers also offer FTTH/FTTB services, e.g.
M-Net M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...
in Munich, wilhelm.tel in Hamburg,
NetCologne NetCologne is a regional telecommunications, cable television and Internet service provider in the Cologne region of Germany. It operates its own copper, coaxial, FTTB and CDMA2000 networks. It serves 518.000 customers and is owned by the city ...
in Cologne, and in Aachen. Since late 2018, more companies have started increasing fiber (FTTH and FTTB) internet availability across Germany such as Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom, Greenfiber, Deutsche Glasfaser and 1&1. As of May 2021, fiber offers internet speeds of up to 10.000 Mbit/s in select regions.


Satellite

Satellite internet Satellite Internet access is Internet access provided through communication satellites. Modern consumer grade satellite Internet service is typically provided to individual users through geostationary satellites that can offer relatively high d ...
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 flatrates.


UMTS/HSDPA and LTE

Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone offer fixed location internet service on their UMTS and LTE networks. 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. 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 E-Plus was a mobile telecommunications operator in Germany. With more than 25 million subscribers, E-Plus was the third largest mobile operator in Germany, until the takeover from Telefónica Germany in October, 2014. Ownership E-Plus was ...
. In 2013,
Chip Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) is a type of immunoprecipitation experimental technique used to investigate the interaction between proteins and DNA in the cell. It aims to determine whether specific proteins are associated with specific genom ...
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). In the same test, LTE coverage was measured at between 15% and 80%, depending on provider and location (rural vs. city). A typical 2-year contract with 2GB of LTE speed, unlimited minutes and texts costs around €40 per month.


History


Early history

The first Internet email from the US to Germany was sent in 1984. Germany was the third country on
CSNET The Computer Science Network (CSNET) was a computer network that began operation in 1981 in the United States. Its purpose was to extend networking benefits, for computer science departments at academic and research institutions that could not be di ...
, after the U.S. initiated the network in 1981 and Israel joined earlier in 1984. The postal service
Deutsche Bundespost The Deutsche Bundespost (German federal post office) was a German state-run postal service and telecommunications business founded in 1947. It was initially the second largest federal employer during its time. After staff reductions in the 198 ...
held a monopoly on telecommunications until 1989. Thereafter,
Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
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. Until the 21st century, Deutsche Telekom controlled almost all Internet access by individuals and small businesses.
Bildschirmtext Bildschirmtext (German "screen text", abbrev. Btx or BTX) was an online videotex system launched in West Germany in 1983 by the Deutsche Bundespost, the (West) German postal service. Btx originally required special hardware (it was based on G ...
(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.


DSL

Prior to the introduction of DSL and cable internet, voice-band
modem A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...
s and
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of communication standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the digitalised circuits of the public switched telephone network. Wo ...
BRI were the most common residential internet access technologies. ISDN was widespread, with 333 ISDN BRIs per 1000 persons in 2005. DSL was introduced in Germany by Deutsche Telekom on July 1, 1999, under the brand name T-DSL, with 768 kbit/s downstream and 128 kbit/s upstream. :de:DSL (Telekom) T-DSL speeds were increased by Deutsche Telekom to 1536/192 kbit/s upstream/downstream in September 2002, 3072/384 kbit/s in April 2004, and 6016/576 kbit/s in mid-2005. Deutsche Telekom introduced
ADSL2+ G.992.5 (also referred to as ADSL2+, G.dmt.bis+, and G.adslplus) is an ITU-T standard for asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) broadband Internet access. The standard has a maximum theoretical downstream sync speed of 24 megabits per secon ...
service with 16000/1024 kbit/s in spring 2006 and
VDSL2 Very high-speed digital subscriber line (VDSL) and very high-speed digital subscriber line 2 (VDSL2) are digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies providing data transmission faster than the earlier standards of asymmetric digital subscriber lin ...
with 50000/10000 kbit/s triple play service under the brand name ''Entertain'' in October 2006. :de:Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line#VDSL2 in Deutschland VDSL2 service without bundled IPTV was introduced in June 2009. In 2011, Deutsche Telekom introduced
Voice over IP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of speech, voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms In ...
(VoIP) services over ADSL2+ Annex J. In February 2013, Deutsche Telekom started switching existing POTS and ISDN voice service subscribers to VoIP service. In August 2014, Deutsche Telekom became the first service provider to offer vectored VDSL2 using
G.vector Very high-speed digital subscriber line (VDSL) and very high-speed digital subscriber line 2 (VDSL2) are digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies providing data transmission faster than the earlier standards of asymmetric digital subscriber lin ...
technology, offering 100/40 Mbit/s. In 1998, the
Federal Network Agency The Federal Network Agency (german: Bundesnetzagentur or ) is the German regulatory office for electricity, gas, telecommunications, post and railway markets. It is a federal agency of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Acti ...
(BNetzA) established regulations for local loop unbundling, enabling providers such as
Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
,
Telefónica Germany Telefónica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG (; also called Telefónica Deutschland ) is a provider of broadband, landline and mobile telecommunications in Germany. The company trades as O2 (typeset as O2). The company was renamed from Telefónica O ...
(O2), QSC, and
Versatel Tele2 Netherlands (formerly ''Versatel Telecom International N.V'') is a brand name of telecommunications company T-Mobile Netherlands, operating on the Dutch and Belgian market. It sells fixed telephony, mobile telephony, broadband internet and d ...
to rent the local loop from the incumbent Deutsche Telekom and to operate their own access networks, placing their DSLAMs either in their own central offices (CO) or co-located with the incumbent's. :de:Entbündelung These ISPs either offered their services directly to the subscriber, or sold bit-stream access to other ISPs. :de:Bitstromzugang To compete with the incumbent's POTS and ISDN voice services, alternative providers introduced voice over IP (VoIP) bundled with their DSL internet services under the name ''Komplettanschluss''. Starting in 2004, Deutsche Telekom provided IP-level bitstream access to other providers under the name ''T-DSL resale''. :de:T-DSL-Resale The "resold" T-DSL was only available to subscribers of Deutsche Telekom's POTS/ISDN service. :de:T-DSL-Resale In July 2008, Deutsche Telekom introduced bitstream access which does not require the incumbent's POTS/ISDN service, enabling competing ISPs to provide combined internet and VoIP service (''Komplettanschluss'') on Deutsche Telekom-operated local loops. G.vector is not compatible with local loop unbundling, because G.vector can only be feasibly deployed by one provider per
serving area interface The serving area interface or service area interface (SAI) is an outdoor enclosure or metal box that allows access to telecommunications wiring. Alternate names *Access point (AP) *Cabinet (cab) *B-box (breakout box) *Cross box *Cross-connect b ...
. The regulator BNetzA conceived a "vectoring list", on which providers can claim cabinets on a first-come-first-served basis. To prevent a monopoly, this provider is required to offer
bit-stream access Bit-stream access refers to the situation where a wireline incumbent installs a high-speed access link to the customer's premises (e.g., by installing ADSL equipment in the local access network) and then makes this access link available to third ...
to its competitors.


Cable

Cable internet access in Germany began with pilot projects in December 2003 and wide deployment followed in late 2004. :de:Kabel Deutschland#Geschichte A number of political reasons prevented an earlier market adoption of cable internet in Germany. :de:Netzebene (Kabelfernsehen)#Betreiber und neuere Entwicklung 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. Pressure from regulatory agencies forced Deutsche Telekom to sell its cable network, however Deutsche Telekom took measures to delay a possible cable internet offering.


LTE

LTE internet access was introduced by Deutsche Telekom in 2010 and by Vodafone in 2011. :de:Digitale Dividende As part of the 2010 spectrum auction, the regulatory agency BNetzA required bidders to use the spectrum to provide broadband internet access to regions with only limited land-line broadband (DSL, cable, FTTH) access. For the purpose of land-line broadband replacement, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone introduced fixed location LTE service.


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 removal of web sites from Google search results that deny the holocaust, which is a
felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...
under German law. 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 Wolfgang Werlé and Manfred Lauber are German half-brothers who were convicted of the 1990 murder of actor Walter Sedlmayr. The murder, and subsequent trial and conviction of Werlé and Lauber in 1993, received extensive media coverage in German ...
, two criminals convicted of the murder of the Bavarian actor
Walter Sedlmayr Walter Sedlmayr (6 January 1926 – 14 July 1990) was a popular German stage, television, and film actor from Bavaria. His murder in 1990 was widely publicized. Career After his 1945 wartime ''Abitur,'' Sedlmayr served as a '' Flakhelfer'' to ...
. In another case, Wikipedia.de (an Internet domain run by
Wikimedia Deutschland Wikimedia chapters are national or sub-national not-for-profit organizations created to promote the interests of Wikimedia projects locally. Chapters are legally independent of the Wikimedia Foundation, entering into an agreement with the founda ...
) 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 Lutz Heilmann (born 7 September 1966 in Zittau, East Germany) is a German politician of the left-wing politics, left-wing party The Left (Germany), Die Linke. He was elected to the Bundestag in the 2005 German federal election, 2005 federal elec ...
over claims in a German Wikipedia article regarding his past involvement with the former
German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
's intelligence service
Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...
.


Notes


See also

*
Internet censorship in Germany Although Internet censorship in Germany has traditionally been rated as low, it is practised directly and indirectly through various laws and court decisions.Pirate Party Germany The Pirate Party Germany (german: Piratenpartei Deutschland), commonly known as Pirates (), is a political party in Germany founded in September 2006 at c-base. It states general agreement with the Swedish Piratpartiet as a party of the informat ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Internet In Germany