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I've just been talking to another traveller who was particularly grumpy about Munich airport not having free wifi when he was there recently.

Now I seem to recall that Germany has pretty strict laws prohibiting open wifi access because the person providing the wifi would have some responsibility if somebody were to do some hacking over their signal.

But I don't know whether that law prohibits all kinds of free wifi or only the kind where a user doesn't need a password or key or have to enter any kind of info into a page that comes up first before allowing through access to the net.

Or could it be some exclusivity deal where some restaurant or cafe paid the airport for rights to be the only WIFI provider or some such thing?

So is it only Munich airport that lacks free wifi or do all German airports lack free wifi due to a law as outlined above?

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  • Starbucks has free wifi in germany too :-)
    – Omar Kohl
    Oct 2, 2011 at 22:24
  • 7
    At least the airports in Munich, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf and Berlin Tegel have Starbucks with Wifi Dec 9, 2011 at 17:00
  • 3
    All of the Lufthansa lounges offer free unauthenticated Wifi. Presuming you don't have access to the lounges, you may still be able to get access by sitting near one of the lounges.
    – Doc
    Dec 14, 2012 at 15:40
  • 4
    AFAIK, the main reason is the legal issues with open WiFi in Germany. msnbc.msn.com/id/37107291/ns/technology_and_science-security
    – vartec
    Jan 21, 2013 at 9:31
  • 3
    Well, actually Hamburg Airport offers free 1 hour wifi. I have been using it a lot.
    – toy
    Jan 21, 2013 at 17:19

6 Answers 6

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+50

Here's a list of the 20 busiest German airports and whether they have free WiFi:

  • Frankfurt - FRA - Yes
  • Munich - MUC - Yes
  • Düsseldorf - DUS - Yes (faster service at additional cost)
  • Berlin Tegel - TXL - Yes
  • Hamburg - HAM - Yes
  • Cologne/Bonn - CGN - Yes
  • Berlin Schönefeld - SXF - Yes
  • Stuttgart - STR - Yes
  • Hanover - HAJ - Yes
  • Nuremberg - NUE - Yes
  • Hahn - HHN - Yes
  • Bremen - BRE - Yes
  • Leipzig/Halle - LEJ - Yes
  • Dortmund - DTM - Yes
  • Weeze - NRN - Yes
  • Dresden - DRS - Yes
  • Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden - FKB - Yes (up to 30 minutes)
  • Memmingen - FMM - Yes
  • Münster/Osnabrück - FMO - Yes
  • Paderborn - PAD - Yes

It seems that as of 2018 all major German airports have free WiFi. So the answer is no, German airports no longer lack free Internet.

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  • I am pretty disagree about FRA airport. I was hopping through it a week ago and whilst it theoretically had free amount of WiFi time, in practice sign up system is hard and cumbersome, and pretty unstable, and if your hop is not long and Internet is needed urgently, you won't be able to use it (and this was highlighted in answer below). So the answer about Frankfurt is NO, it really has no free WiFi.
    – Suncatcher
    Nov 6, 2018 at 7:04
  • @Suncatcher I've used it without any issues this past Sunday. There wasn't any registration, you just click a button and you're online.
    – JonathanReez
    Nov 6, 2018 at 7:36
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    yes, I just returned from Frankfurt yesterday and yes, they changed registration system to a better way, now the sessions are not interrupted.
    – Suncatcher
    Dec 2, 2018 at 13:08
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It's generally hard to find free WiFi in Germany; it's pretty much as you said and has something to do with the fact that the hotspot owner would be hold responsible for whatever his users or guests do or download on his network. There was a case about this a few years ago where some kid used his neighbors open wifi and downloaded movies or music - therefore most small shops, cafes or restaurants want to avoid any hassle with the law and rather don't offer free WiFi.

Some big cities have dedicated pages for wifi hotspots (http://www.freewifiberlin.com/), and for some cities you can get apps that show you the open hotspots.

You can sign up with Telecom who runs some hotspots in train stations, airports and big public places, but it's rather expensive. If you stay longer in Germany you should get a 3g modem for your laptop, this would probably your cheapest and most reliable solution.

If you travel via train you can at least charge your laptop in most long distance trains; and some trains even offer WiFi via the Telecom hotspot account.

Never seen any starbucks in germany - all the small bakeries are the places to go for fresh kuchen and coffee in the morning!

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  • 6
    Went to Munich last week and had an hour spent in Starbucks. The Wifi was free and easy to connect. The connection was fast and very reliable. Dec 9, 2011 at 3:17
  • It is located in Sendliger Strasse. Dec 9, 2011 at 3:30
  • 2
    Agree with the small bakeries, those things are gems in Germany. Delicious! Aug 8, 2014 at 7:41
  • 2
    Would you consider re-writing your answer? It is no longer up to date.
    – JonathanReez
    Nov 3, 2017 at 11:31
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Munich airport free WiFi is now available for as long as you want!

Munich Airport rolls-out unlimited free wifi

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  • another reason (of many!) to prefer Munich transits over Frankfurt ones Aug 8, 2014 at 13:47
  • @KateGregory A while ago, I flew Lufthansa and they used old Boeing 747-400 aircraft that had only overhead entertainment on their LAX-FRA route, whereas on their LAX-MUC route they used Airbus aircraft that had in-seat entertainment (a must for me). But that was back in 2010; now in 2014 they use newer 747-8s for the former route, and will eventually switch to the A380 for that. But yeah, there are many reasons.
    – gparyani
    Nov 30, 2014 at 21:31
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Not all the German airports lack free WIFI. Two examples:

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  • 2
    I have all my SIM cards with me for Wifi in FRA
    – greg121
    Nov 21, 2012 at 7:51
  • 1
    At least in FRA, the mobile phone number required to get the free wifi must be a German number.
    – Doc
    Dec 14, 2012 at 15:40
  • Not so. I have been able to get it with a foreign number Jan 2, 2013 at 12:36
  • 2
    At FRA no mobile phone or even a valid email adress is needed to gain access to 30 minutes of free wifi. Also the 30 minute limit is enforced by a cookie on your phone... Nov 4, 2013 at 10:46
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Free WiFi in Germany is really a problem. There are legal issues (owner of WiFi is liable for any actions done from this WiFi) and many hotels, airports and Telcos think it is reasonable to charge you with 2-10 EUR/h.

There are free hotspots at Starbucks, McDonald's (not sure), but generally rare.

Recently I have seen some new free Internet terminals at Munich airport (at least in Terminal 2), but I think that's so 90's.

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I think the problen is not the law. In Germany, many coffee shops have free Wi-Fi.

I think the issues is that the landlord, Fraport or Munich airport is somehow connected to Deutsche Telecom.

They get paid to ensure there is no competition to the telephone company monopoly Wi-Fi provider. It would be a good case to take to the European Commission as I am sure it breaches EU competition law!

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  • 2
    I can't agree with you that there are many cafes with WiFi
    – Dirty-flow
    Jan 2, 2013 at 8:39
  • 1
    @Dirty-flow Might depend on the region and what you mean by “many”. For example in the North-East (Berlin obviously but also less trendy cities in the former GDR), I know several places with free wifi everywhere I have been. You can't expect any shop to have one and it might less common than in some other places but it's not difficult to find. Even some cities are offering it so I think this answer's main point, namely that the law does not prevent it, is spot on (+1).
    – Relaxed
    May 1, 2014 at 11:14

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