Cost of Living in Berlin

Berlin is overall a great city to be.
Food is cheap and everywhere, easy to go out and have fun/meet for business.
Rent has crept up but still far better value than where I came from.
Internet: 36 EUR/month get me 450/40 mbps (cable -> DOCSIS 3.0)
Public transport is 2.70 EUR/ticket.
No woman I know has said they felt unsafe. Some really odd, xenophobic sounding comments on here.

Biggest downsides IMO:
service quality at restaurants - not that people are rude, but they don't seem to particularly care
cash heavy - for people who value anonymity, Berlin is great - i wish i could go cashless more regularly

I lived in Berlin for 2 years and have visited during the past 10 years on and off. I would say it's the most overrated city in all Europe. They have good marketing and spread of word advertising, but in reality its an uninspiring, ugly and depressing city with a weird energy that prevents people from getting things done. It's ok for 1 month in summer, but don't get stuck there. For women it's not safe at all, don't go to parks alone at night or empty U Bahn stations. In Berlin (and most big cities in Germany) young women are being raped by immigrants on a weekly base, its a know fact but politicians pretend it's not happening.

I spent 1 month and 4 days in Berlin, Great the city, functional, no too crowded, a lot of things to see and to do.
Good for business connections, reliable and affordable Public Transport ( even If I was advised a few times to don't fall in sleep in the trains ).
On the other hand. It seems that a few places in Germany are not so well interconnected on Internet Network infrastructure.
The speed was quite decent speed, but lost connectivity too often whatever I was using the phone or laptop.

Berlin is great but Germany overall is extremely overrated - it is NOT by any means a modern, digitised, tech- nor expat- friendly country. It is grey, depressing, unwelcoming, filled with insanely hard to navigate bureaucracy and nonsensical "rules" about everything. Digitisation does not exist and everything has to be done still in person, via paper mail, by phone or fax. Internet speed is slow and wifi not widespread. Waiting times can be insane e.g. to get a doctor's appointment, and in general what takes minutes in another country can take weeks in Germany. And given that you get taxed on the air you breathe, I would say that this is hardly worth it. And if living in Berlin would make up for it five years ago thanks to the disgustingly cheap cost of life now that rent got thrice as expensive things have dramatically changed for the worse.

Been living in Berlin for a couple of months. Not worth it anymore. Cold, gray, sad, more expensive than Cologne, terrible internet access (especially mobile), impossible to find decent mid-term apartments, everything getting 25% more expensive per quarter.

Been living in 3 different centrally located airbnb in Berlin (2018), each between 800 and 900€ per month for 40-45 sqm (we're two, so 400-450€ each). Each time a full flat and not a shared airbnb, legal now since some months (though it was always possible to get a full flat before as well). Internet was always between 15 and 50 mbps. I spend 100€ per week on food, including restaurants (pretty cheap here), check for Turkish market on Maybachufer and Turkish stores in Neukölln (I spend less on food here than in Chiang Mai!). Berlin is such an awesome place to live, very multicultural, very tolerant, many different neighborhoods, quite relaxed feeling, many parks, lakes all around. No need to speak German at all. Come over here, probably one one of the best place on earth ;) (written in Sept 2018)

The internet sucks in Berlin and is definitely not fast. I don’t know where you get your numbers from but I’m sure you were never in the country for very long and are using the „official numbers“ not the real ones.

Rent a bike using the many dockless bike sharing and enjoy the parks. Berlin is amazing during summer. Betahaus is great to meet other nomads. No need for having a membership, just go to their cafe. Checkout Meetup.com for many opportunities to meet people. AirBnB is ok but pricey, and since 2016 they are not allowed to rent flats, but only rooms. The vibe in Berlin is is usually relaxed and alternative. Falafel and doner are always an option for cheap eating.

Berlin is an amazing city. The two main problems of Berlin are the German way of acting and people that moves there trying to be too cool to take a shower.