A landline plan or home phone plan is a contract between a consumer and a telecom service provider which entitles the consumer to fixed line telephone services in exchange for a fee. A landline plan is required in order to use a landline telephone to make and receive phone calls.
Landline plans are widely used by private individuals and by businesses. The use of landlines by private individuals has declined in recent years due to the advent of mobile phones and mobile data connections.
Many Swiss telecom service providers offer landline plans as part of bundled telecom offers. These package deals typically include Internet connections in addition to landline connections. They may also include TV plans. Some telecom service providers offer multiple-contract discounts to customers who also use their mobile plans.
In the past, many Swiss telecom providers could only provide broadband Internet to households which had landline connections, making a landline plan a requirement for anyone who wanted to access the Internet. Landline telephones were physically connected directly to other landline telephones through the copper phone lines and distribution points which made up telephone networks. Today, landline plans use IP packages. With some landline plans, calls are connected to telecom service providers via the Internet.
Most Swiss landline users have mobile plans from major telecom service providers Swisscom and Sunrise. But there are smaller service providers which also offer landline plans.
When you terminate a landline plan, you need to pay attention to notice periods. Swiss telecom service providers typically require you to give notice either one, two or three months before you would like your plan to be terminated. If possible, send in your notice in written form to avoid having to deal with salespeople.
When choosing a landline plan, pay attention to minimum contract terms – the minimum period of time over which you will not be able to terminate a plan without paying a penalty. Swiss landline plans typically have a minimum term of 12 months. If you terminate a plan before the pre-agreed contract term has expired, you will have to pay high penalty fees. For this reason, it is usually better to stick to plans with short contract terms in order to easily switch to better offers as they become available.
There are major differences between individual landline plans, so carefully comparing available landline plans before you settle on one is recommended. You can easily compare landline plans using the moneyland.ch landline plan comparison.
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