O2 Telefónica Germany SIM card: prepaid with an ID check and a slower eSIM route

Is an O2 Telefónica Germany SIM card a good choice for a visitor?

It can work if you accept the paperwork. O2 sells prepaid SIMs, claims very wide coverage, and, according to its help pages, accepts identity documents from many countries. What it does not give you is an easy tourist route. We read O2's pages on 8 October 2026; some are help-forum answers, which we flag.

What can a visitor buy?

O2 sells prepaid SIM cards, with tariffs S, M and L that O2 opened to 5G in June 2023, according to a Telefónica announcement. We did not read current prepaid prices, and the pages we saw did not give a tourist product. Look at the prepaid page on o2online.de for today's tariffs.

Registration: the part to plan for

O2 requires an identity check before it activates a prepaid SIM or eSIM. Its help page describes an online method that needs a valid ID, a camera and a stable connection, and says only the person who registered the SIM can use that check. It lists German ID cards, passports and residence permits, and adds that ID cards and passports from many other countries are accepted. It does not list those countries in the excerpt we saw.

Details from O2's help forum, which are user reports and not policy: names must match the ID exactly including all first names, expired documents are rejected, and some users report video or post-office checks as the working routes. A passport is the safest document to carry.

Getting an O2 eSIM on prepaid

According to O2 help answers, a prepaid customer can request an eSIM once the physical SIM is active, then scan a QR code under mobile settings. Users report this goes through customer support or chat, not the shop. So the sequence for a visitor is: buy the SIM, pass the check, activate, then ask for the eSIM. Do not count on being online in minutes.

O2 coverage: what O2 says

Telefónica's coverage page, as shown to us, says 5G reaches more than 99 percent of the population as of June 2026, with LTE at about 100 percent. O2's network page repeats about 99 percent and notes that area coverage is lower because thin-population areas need fewer sites. These are company figures. O2 publishes a coverage map you can check for your route; use it for rural stretches.

O2 versus a travel eSIM

The O2 route gives you a German number and local rates but needs ID, activation and a support step for eSIM. A travel eSIM installs before you fly. We compare the two on the Germany comparison page. For other networks see Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone and 1&1.

For the wider picture see our Germany SIM and eSIM hub, the Germany SIM card comparison and our cheapest eSIM page. This page is desk research from the carriers' own public pages, not a test of any plan.