Flatrate (English flat rate) one calls in German flat rates for telecommunication service achievements such as Telefonie and Internet entrance meanwhile the term Flatrate also advertising-effectively on many fixed price offers from other industries is used (e.g. "“Sauf Flatrate"” in Discotheken)

Origin and meaning

The term originates from the English, where the term expresses Flat Fee that a product or a service is independently from the purchased quantity available to a blanket rate.

Flatrates are based naturally on a Mischkalkulation, with that the customers, who use the offer relatively little, a portion for the financing of many users with carry out and count themselves thus tendentious rather for large offerers, who can calculate better due to the high customer numbers with statistic methods than a small offerer, with whom only one outliers can let the whole calculation tilt.

Sprachtelefonie

Fixed net

Particularly in the USA it is usual for decades that local of discussions for a relatively small monthly basic price flat is accounted for (unmetered local calls). This tariff model is so far common that Americans can hardly imagine that in other parts a time-dependent tariff for telephone calls exists to the earth.

In Germany such tariffs are only since in the middle of 2003 in the offer of the "“alternative"” - of the German Telekom independent - offerers, who tariff models after "“all discussions in the German fixed net including"” - principle first of all as instrument for the production of private Vieltelefonierer as new customers use. The German Telekom reacted to it with "“quasi- Flatrates"” e.g. between 18 and 7 o'clock or only in local service area (to 20 km periphery since October 2005 also for business customers). Since the 6.Oktober 2005 the German Telekom offers also a genuine Flatrate for all discussions in the fixed net to the Telekom in Germany. These tariff models are not available usually for business customers and count themselves in relation to call by call offers only with a high daily yield of conversation.

The company Hansenet offers the first European-wide Festnetz Flat to Alice with the product since the summer 2005.

Portable radio

Since August 2005 it gives also flatrate similar offers within the portable radio range.

While E-plus with its offer offers a time-independent tariff to COUSIN into the own net as well as for fixed net call numbers, the other market participants make tariffs available with high Inklusivminutenkontingent or offer on certain times of day or Flatrates limited weekdays on.

Since September 2005 offers the portable radio offerer to CO2 (Germany) likewise a Sprachflatrate from the Homezone, which apply net-internally in the fixed net and.

Internet entrance

Switched line

In the year 1999 the offerer Mobilcom tried to offer a Flatrate for the Internet entrance over switched line/dial UP for a then sensational monthly price of under DM 80.00. Thus Mobilcom was among other things therefore received a high risk, because to the participant network carriers for each connection time-dependent repays to be paid is.

It was shown that the calculation did not come up: The customers remained durably in-selected, even if the connection straight were not used. By this mentality of the users, whom the offerer in this extreme had not foreseen, the a choice knots were not attainable due to the surbooking often because of overloading. By the high costs the offer for Mobilcom was economically not profitable.

In the subsequent months there were still some further approaches of other Internet Provider to offer a Dialup Flatrate. No longer existence was however likewise given to these offers.

A substantial pressure developed on the RegTP to force the German Telekom to offering a wholesale product for the realization from Dialup Flatrates to during this time. This did it then also and offered the Internetprovidern to book primary multiplex connections directly in the switching centers. Connections to these connections would then not have been accounted for time-dependently. The hook at this offer is that a Internetprovider, which would like to offer its service country widely in nearly 2000 switching centers would have had to be present with own hardware and would have had to connect these switching centers with own technology. This hurdle was so high - surely not without intention - that no Provider got involved in it. The increasing spreading of DSL reduced the necessity for a Dialup Flatrate also strongly.

Today exist some few Dialup Flatrate offers of offerers with own net, who are offered customers at locations without DSL availability. These offers are however complete at the market nearly without meaning.

DSL

The far spreading of DSL as dedicated line technology into the early 2000er-Jahren revolutionized the market of the Internet entrance for final customers. The used, switched line-similar a choice technology over PPP of over Ethernet or PPTP permits various account possibilities.

The German market fell itself gratefully on the DSL technology, and it was inflamed fast a price fight. The key word Flat in different forms was abused. It is not used of many marketing departments in the meantime as synonym for "“connection time-dependently accounted for"”.

A Flatrate in the sense of this article is however naturally only one tariff, which offers a real blanket rate - completely independently of service life and transferred data set.

In the spring 2005 in Germany a new price round was rung in, which will press other offerer surely due to the ruinous competition or into the failure.

DSL Flatrates are usually selected of many users as tariff model. In the current market situation a Flatrate is interesting in addition, for users, who do not want to think and calculable costs wish over possible cost traps.

While in former times the prices for DSL Flatrates were graduated after the connection range usually, such tariffs come increasingly from the mode and by location-dependent prices are replaced. Thus the offerers in the densely populated areas, where Internetconnectivity and interconnect capacitance are than sufficiently present more, can offer attractive prices, without having to pay extra on the flat country.

Dedicated line

Conventional dedicated lines do not have the possibility of the time-based account and with volume tariffs are usually driven out. In this context the term Flat means that the binding is overall accounted for independently of the transferred volume of data. Alternatively to it there are some offerers after peak abrechen. Likewise an account is accomplished by means of MRTG. Here the necessary range is constantly measured and added for account, whereupon that price-alternatively is resulted then made 95% a measurement, the 5% of all Trafficspitzen is removed and the over-lasting value computed.

Portable radio

In September 2005 E-plus started a flat rate for the package-obtained Internet entrance over its UMTS and/or GSM/GPRS net. The Netzabetreiber bundled VoIP application Skype with the offer forbade however the use of SIP able applications.

Already since 2003 E-plus in fixed connection with the Hiptop offers a "“Internet Flatrate"”. The normal Internet sides on the servers of the manufacturer are prepared special for these terminals. Enamels can be sent away and Instant Messaging be used. Downloads are not possible.

Also Flatrates for GPRS/UMTS, which make possible for an unlimited Datentransfer, are alternative every now and then even in the Prepaidbereich in Italy or Austria. A problem thereby is that the operators themselves want to have paid and therefore try very high royalties for UMTS too to pass these on to the customer.

See also

Kulturflatrate

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