The Cheapest Data Bundles for Roaming in Europe

Whether for a day trip or a longer holiday, many of Switzerland’s residents frequently travel to other European countries. Many Swiss mobile service providers offer data roaming bundles that enable phone users to stay online while traveling in Europe. This moneyland.ch guide gives you all the most important information about data roaming in Europe, and explains how to find the right data bundles.

How can I use data roaming in Europe?

There are three different ways to use data roaming, but not all Swiss mobile carriers offer all three of these.

• Mobile plan with included roaming allowances: Some mobile plans include a certain amount of roaming data that can be used to get online in certain countries.
• Data roaming bundle: These optional bundles can be added to mobile plans to enable you to get online. This is useful if your plan does not include roaming data or the included allowances are used up, or if the included roaming allowances do not apply to the country you are travelling to.
• Roaming at standard rates: Some carriers let you use roaming even if you do not have eligible roaming allowances or data bundles. They apply a standard roaming fee schedule to determine the rates you pay. Roaming at standard rates is generally not advisable because the costs per megabyte are very high. Spusu is an exception to this rule, as its standard roaming rate for Europe is relatively modest at 0.4 centimes per megabyte (4 francs per gigabyte).

Which European countries are covered by data roaming bundles for Europe?

Die Schweizer Mobilfunk-Provider definieren Europa Each Swiss mobile carrier has its own definition of Europe. The data bundles offered by most Swiss carriers cover all EU countries, plus the UK, Norway, and Iceland. But the Europe zone used by Salt, Gomo, Lidl Connect, and Post Mobile does not cover Bulgaria, Estonia, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovenia, which are EU countries.

Sunrise and other carriers that use the Sunrise network include Turkey in their Europe zone. Swisscom, Coop Mobile, M-Budget Mobile, and Wingo include Ukraine in their Europe zone.

The table below shows you which countries are covered by the Europe bundles from different mobile carriers.

For its analysis, moneyland.ch accounted for 40 European countries. Most Swiss carriers include either 30 or 31 countries in their Europe zones – around three quarters of the countries accounted for in the analysis. Salt, Gomo, Lidl Connect, and Post Mobile cover 24 countries – around 60 percent of the countries included in the analysis. 

Which data roaming bundles should I use for travel to European countries?

Most Swiss mobile service providers offer three different data bundles for roaming in Europe, but depending on the carrier, the selection may be larger or smaller than that. Roaming data bundles from Swiss carriers are normally valid for one year, partly because of legal requirements.

The cheapest data bundles for roaming in Europe cost around 10 francs and include between half-a-gigabyte and one gigabyte. Currently, the biggest roaming bundles with a validity period of one year have 20 gigabytes of data.

The diagram below shows you how much you would pay for between 1000 and 10,000 megabytes (1 to 10 gigabytes) of data per year. The amounts shown are based on the cheapest combinations for each data amount.

Which are the best data bundles for Balkan countries?

Using mobile roaming while traveling in many Balkan countries is complicated for customers of Swiss mobile carriers. All Swiss carriers include Greece in their Europe zones. With the exception of Salt, Gomo, Lidl Connect, and Post Mobile, all carriers include Slovenia and Croatia in their Europe zones.

Swisscom customers can roam in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia at a relatively low cost by using Swisscom’s country-specific roaming bundles. A country-specific bundle can only be used in a single country. Bundles for the countries listed above cost 7.90 francs for one gigabyte, 24.90 francs for five gigabytes, and 39.90 francs for 10 gigabytes.

All Swiss carriers place Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia in a different zone than EU countries, and charge higher prices for that zone. There are very big differences between carriers. A country-specific roaming bundle from Swisscom, for example, costs around 40 francs for 20 gigabytes (50 francs for a 10-gigabyte bundle for Kosovo). Sunrise charges around 60 francs for 10 gigabytes. Swisscom charges around 70 francs for a 10-gigabyte bundle for the whole zone.

Other service providers are much more expensive. According to Salt’s price lists, you would pay nearly 1500 francs for 10 gigabytes, and the same amount would cost you 1600 with Digital Republic. In practice, though, bills that high are not possible because roaming is disabled once you reach a predetermined limit.

Which are the best data roaming bundles for other European countries?

Other European countries may fall into one or multiple zones, depending on the carrier. Sunrise, Digital Republic, and Galaxus Mobile include Turkey in their Europe zone. Digital Republic charges 50 francs for 10 gigabytes, and Sunrise charges around 60 francs. A 10-gigabyte Swisscom bundle that can only be used in Turkey costs nearly 50 francs. Salt charges almost 150 francs for a 12-gigabyte bundle that includes Turkey. 

Ukraine is another example. Swisscom, Coop Mobile, M-Budget Mobile, and Wingo include Ukraine in their Europe zone. Both Swisscom and Sunrise charge around 60 francs for 10 gigabytes of data for Ukraine. Salt charges 60 francs for just 400 megabytes – 25 times less data. 

Which Swiss carrier has the cheapest data bundles for Europe?

moneyland.ch calculated the average price per gigabyte for data roaming in EU countries based on amounts of data between 1000 and 10,000 megabytes (1 to 10 gigabytes) in 100-megabyte increments. The calculations also account for the fact that consumers may have to buy bundles with more data than they actually need.

Spusu is the cheapest, with costs of 4 francs per gigabyte. Digital Republic takes second place with costs nearly twice as high, at 7.70 francs per gigabyte, on average. Swisscom sits in third place at 8.41 francs, followed by Sunrise at 10.63 francs, and Galaxus Mobile with an average cost of 10.99 francs. The most expensive carriers for this profile are Salt, Gomo, Lidl Connect, and Post Mobile, with a cost of 14.14 francs for most EU countries, and 20.95 francs for the remaining EU countries. 

The average cost of using a country-specific data bundle from Swisscom in a European country is 5.34 francs per gigabyte. But it is important to note that these bundles are only valid for use in a single country, and therefore cannot be compared with bundles that can be used in an entire zone.