To all People coming in to K-Town

Ok, Dont let the Houseing office bully you out of TLF. There job is to scare you out and get a house fast. Make sure you get the house that fits your family. You have 60 days in TLF. They dont tell you that though. Use them and there listings. PSC season is upon us and there will be alot of houses to choose from, look around. It is after sept when there are slim pickens. That is when I came, end of oct. and there was hardly anything. But a new list is out evey week and trust me there are plenty to look at.
DONT LET THEM SCARE YOU!!!!
Once you find your house get signed up for interent, even if you are not moved in yet. It takes a couple of days to weeks, depending where you live. Mine took 4 mths. The reason being is the previous tentents did not close out their account. So I had to wait until their contract was up on this house. It sucked. You can go to the Com. Shop right outside of Ramstien or do it yourself though vodafone or telecom. Here is the kicker. Telecom Owns all phone and internet lines in Germany. They bought them out a while back when germany's economy was doing bad. There are a certain number of lines for each village. If you go through vodafone you have to wait for telecom to approve the use. Telecom rents out the line to vodafone for a cheaper rate. But they can say no, so you have to go to them. There is a 20 euro price difference between them. If you are in no hurry I would try vodafone first and if they say no then go with telecom.
The movers are suppose to help you unpack. They dont but they are supoose to. Make sure you tell the people who call you on the phone about it.
Oh ya get a prepaid cell phone when you first get here. Dont rush into any contracts with TKS or Vodafone. None of them have a family plan, most cost 60 to 100 euro a month for good coverage. I just have the prepaid and use it for emergency use. If you have Vonage dont close it out. You can use it over here. When it asked where you are located dont put anything. That way everyone from the mainland can call you and it is no charge to them. Oh they have international service so you can still make calls here. Unfortunatly you still have to get a German Land line to have internet. It is not that bad though.
Ok if I have anymore Kimmy advice I will post as I go. Good luck.

Kimmy do you have Vonage? I heard of it before but wasn't sure it was worth it... you can get unlimited calling to the states for like 3.99/mo through TKS. Are there any extra fees for using vonage in Germany? I see on the site it says free to call Germany but I wonder if there is a fee for calling from here? Thanks for the info... wish I would have had it, we hopped into the first house, didn't know anything about TLF and spent a Large amount on hotels, out of pocket, when I first got here, like 3 weeks cause the only house we found wasn't open until Jan 1 and I got here Nov. 10th... we got screwed more ways then one, ughh. Anywhoo thanks for the info!

Ok so the only reason to have it depends upon your friends or family's calling plan. If you have a lot of friends and family in the states and they dont have long distance unlimited over sea's then it would only be for them. The only benifit you have is they can call you anytime for free. Mostly all US phone plans include all the US states. In this case, my phone still thinks I am in Virgina. I still keep my number I have had for 10 years. There are no fees if I call out either. You can have the international plan and use it to call Germany too. I Like it because, I have people I know from everywhere and instead of me asking them to change there lives to suit me I just pay 30 bucks a month so they have the freedom of getting me with no fees. Think about it. You would have to call everyone you care about to see if they have international rates with their american phone, No way. I know too many dam people to do that. 30 bucks is well worth it to me.

We use magic jack so that family and friends can call us from the states. It is super easy to use.

And just let me say this...the housing office here stinks! We have been looking for a house for about a month. They are not helpful and are always reminding us our 30 days in TLA is almost up. What do they want us to do if we are not the ones chosen to rent a house/apartment or we are told it is already rented when we call. I like house #32 might be the right one! We will know for sure once we go to housing tomorrow to sign contract. This entire process has made me wanna scream.

Kristin wrote:

Kimmy do you have Vonage? I heard of it before but wasn't sure it was worth it... you can get unlimited calling to the states for like 3.99/mo through TKS. Are there any extra fees for using vonage in Germany? I see on the site it says free to call Germany but I wonder if there is a fee for calling from here? Thanks for the info... wish I would have had it, we hopped into the first house, didn't know anything about TLF and spent a Large amount on hotels, out of pocket, when I first got here, like 3 weeks cause the only house we found wasn't open until Jan 1 and I got here Nov. 10th... we got screwed more ways then one, ughh. Anywhoo thanks for the info!

I know I am not in K-Town, but I wanted to post my 2 cents on Vonage We have had Vonage since we got here back in 2008. I definitely say it is worth it especially if you still have business to tend to over in the states like us. We still own our home in KS, but for the time being we are renting it out, and having Vonage (aka stateside number) allows the property manager to call us if there are any emergencies, etc. Plus, it allows our family to call us if they want to talk or need something and it is not an international charge for them. When we first got here my son's crib was part of that huge Jardine recall, having Vonage made it easier to get my claim handled. I am positive there are no additional fees for using it over here, you just need to hook it up to your internet since it runs over VOIP. It doesn't go over land wires.

Wow thanks ladies for the great info! So this would actually be a great thing to get, I have been thinking about it for awhile but didn't know anyone with it, figured it was one of them things you get sucked into and then end up with a massive phone bill! We will def. be investing!

I'm using broadvoice, it's great for all my friends/family in the US who can call me on my US Phone line with no international cost....I was sick and tired always having to pay to call and this way I have a monthly flate rate and can call all of the US....and they me here....

Hi Tina,
Did the house u wanted all work out? I have an amazing landlord who had lots of houses/apartments, if you are still looking for a place I could ask if he has anything. I do hope your #32 house worked out though )

Hi Bev,
House 32 was the one!! We get the keys on Sunday. Temp furniture and hold baggage will be delivered next week. Phone and internet will be turned on Thursday. How was the shopping trip to the mall??? Hope you ladies had a great time.

Questions for everyone...who has satelite? Do you like it? Is it expensive? How many good channels do you get?

Tina

Hey Tina,
Ugh, I got some wicked bug and had to cancel. Hopefully we can reschedule soon. Congrats on the house!!!!!!! I bet that just lifted a huge weight off your families shoulders ) FMO furniture just got sent back finally on my end, hehe after 3 1/2 yrs. ) I kept meaning to send it back, but never seemed to have the time.

Hi Tina!

Is helsterburg in the k-town area?

Hi Bev.
Yes. Heltersberg 15 mins south of Vogelweh.

hey I use broadvoice, inst. of vonage...it works out for us......

kimmy that is such great advice. i wish we would have had someone to tell us that when we got here in nov 08. we were told the housing list was 8 months long for the wait. so we were pressured to go ahead and rent. we rented a house in queidersbach and boy was that a disaster. we were there one week when our hhg arrived. since it was so close to christmas already, i wanted to set up shop as fast as possible to make it feel like home for christmas. so as they were coming in with boxes i was unpacking as fast as i could. the next morning i got up early to get a start and the phone rings. (the overpriced cell phone we had gotten) it was my hubby and housing had called him to tell us they had a house available for us. no joke. i was livid. so we were in that house for a month and then moved onto base. the house was old and even though we were being extrememly conservative and freezing our butts off b/c of it, when we left we had to refill the oil tank and that cost us 500 euro!! then b/c i didnt *wash the windows* they docked our deposit. THEN when we were completely out and my hubby turned everything off, we had a freaking blizzard and the pipes froze in the house apprently. the landlord said it was our fault and docked our entire deposit.
never again.