Sunrise: New Logo, Same High Prices

More than one year since the merger of Sunrise and UPC, it is finally happening: the UPC logo is almost completely disappearing from the Swiss telecom landscape. The old brand will now only be used for existing customers for subscriptions they already have. The Sunrise brand will now be used for all new products.

From May 23, 2022, Sunrise will not only have a new logo, but it will also offer a new Sunrise Up range of mobile plans. Here, moneyland.ch telecom expert Ralf Beyeler looks at whether or not migrating to the new mobile plans makes sense.

Mobile plans are getting cheaper

The new mobile plans from Sunrise are somewhat cheaper than their predecessors, and also give you more. For example, some plans have higher Internet speeds. The Up Mobile S plan now includes 3 gigabytes of local data per month – double the 1.5 gigabytes included in the previous plan. Customers who use the most expensive Sunrise plans are the biggest profiteers: Up Mobile L and Up Mobile XL now each cost 11 francs less per month than the plans they are replacing.

Table 1: Up Mobile plan features and prices

Another change affects the discounts for customers who get multiple plans on the same bill. Up until now, you would pay a fixed 40-franc fee for each additional plan on top of your base plan. Now you get a 50-percent discount for each additional plan. “For most mobile plan combinations, the new multiple-plan discount works out better than the old fixed discount,” concludes moneyland.ch telecom expert Ralf Beyeler. “The most expensive Sunrise plan is the only exception, working out cheaper with the old, fixed discounted fee than with the new discount model.”

A price comparison with market leader Swisscom shows that Sunrise is slightly cheaper. “Up until now, Sunrise and Swisscom were both equally expensive,” explains Beyeler. For example, the new M plan from Swisscom costs 79.90 francs per month. The equivalent Sunrise plan (L) costs 69 francs – almost 11 francs less.

Home Internet plans are getting faster and costlier

There are also small price changes for home Internet plans. The new M and L plans both cost 4 francs more per month than their predecessors. As a tradeoff, the Internet speed is twice as fast as before. The most expensive XL home internet plan costs 1 franc less per month than the old plan. For optical fiber connections, the speed of the fastest plan will remain unchanged at 10 Gbps.

Table 2: Up Internet plan features and prices

Customers who combine Sunrise home Internet plans with mobile plans or TV plans benefit from additional discounts, and also better services in some cases. For example, you get a multiple-plan discount of 10 francs per month when get both home Internet and a mobile plan from Sunrise.

New TV plan with Netflix

The TV plans from Sunrise are not being upgraded in a big way. The prices are remaining the same. But Sunrise is now adding a new TV plan called Up TV XL which includes an additional subscription in its price tag. You can choose between a standard Netflix subscription, Mysports Pro, or the Sunrise Premium Plus bundle. Like the other two Sunrise TV plans, the new Up TV XL plan includes 275 channels, 7 days of time shifting, and a TV recorder with 2000 hours of recording capacity.  

Table 3: Up TV plan features and prices

Sunrise is still expensive

A price comparison with other telecom service providers shows that even though Sunrise is cheaper than it used to be, it is still one of the most expensive options. For example, a Sunrise mobile plan with unlimited local data and calls in Switzerland now costs 59 francs. The cheapest offer costs only a third of that (see table 4).

Table 4: Mobile plan comparison

A comparison of home Internet plans is even less inspiring: The Sunrise Up Internet L plan with a minimum speed of 1 Gbps costs 79 francs. That puts it just below the most expensive plan in that category (just 90 centimes less per month).

Table 5: Home Internet plan comparison

The comparisons above include plans with a minimum speed of 50 Mbps (for mobile plans), without accounting for promotions and special offers, or discounts for multiple mobile plans or home and mobile combinations.

No mind-blowing changes

“The changes do not blow me away,” says a somewhat disappointed Beyeler. “It is amazing how long customers had to wait before the merger of Sunrise and UPC finally made any difference for them. Sunrise remains of the most expensive mobile service providers. The rebranding would have been a perfect opportunity for them to expand their appeal to new groups of consumers.” Instead of that, Sunrise – like Swisscom – will continue to offer affordable telecom services through its secondary brands.

It is pretty clear that the new offers are based on the old Sunrise plans, even though Sunrise has been taken over by UPC’s parent company Liberty Global, observes Beyeler. But the expert does not find that surprising. “Sunrise is a very strong brand in Switzerland.”

More on this topic:
Compare Swiss mobile plans now
Compare home Internet plans now
Compare Swiss TV plans now