Month 1
Time
15 min to order · 1 to 4 weeks to install
Cost
€25 to 50/mo
Difficulty
Medium
What to bring
Your address and apartment details
A German bank account for the direct debit
Not needed: A technician visit, sometimes, cabled buildings can self-activate
Our pick
Compare all 4 →Prices checked June 2026
Do it
- 1
Check what your building has
Ask the landlord or neighbours whether it's fibre (Glasfaser), cable or DSL, it decides who can serve you and how fast.
- 2
Order the day you sign the lease
Install slots are the bottleneck. Booking early means weeks of waiting instead of months.
- 3
Choose contract length carefully
Standard contracts run 24 months. If you're unsure how long you'll stay, pick a monthly-cancellable tariff even at a higher price.
- 4
Bridge the gap with mobile data
Until the line is live, tether from a generous-data SIM or a prepaid hotspot so you're not offline for weeks.
Common questions
Why does installation take so long?
Provisioning the line and, for DSL/fibre, scheduling a technician can take weeks. Cable in a pre-wired flat is fastest; order early regardless.
Can I take my contract to a new flat?
Usually yes, providers move the contract (Umzug) rather than cancel it, though the move can trigger another install wait.
Full checklist tracking and task completion live in the Settli app for Berlin.