M-Budget Mobile is a co-branded mobile service offered by Swisscom in collaboration with Swiss retailer Migros. As of November 20, 2019, M-Budget Mobile has expanded its product lineup with 3 new prepaid bundles targeting low-consumption mobile users.
What do the new prepaid bundles include?
The basic Prepaid Easy S bundle from M-Budget costs 4 francs for 30 days and includes 40 minutes of local calls, 40 local SMS messages and 40 megabytes of local mobile data.
The mid-range Prepaid Easy M bundle costs 9 francs for 30 days and includes 2 hours of local calls, 200 local SMS messages and 200 megabytes of local mobile data.
The largest bundle, Prepaid Easy L, includes 4 hours of local calls, 400 local SMS messages and 400 megabytes of local mobile data. It costs 14 francs for 30 days.
The calling, SMS and data allowances included in these bundles are for local use within Switzerland only. The bundles do not include data roaming, call roaming or international calls.
Things to pay attention to
If you use up the included allowances before the end of the 30-day term, you can simply purchase another plan. Other mobile service providers require you to either wait out the term or deactivate your existing bundle before buying another bundle.
The bundles can be purchased online using a credit card. They can also be purchased at Melectronics stores, but here too, a credit card is required.
The new bundles replace the Value Pack Small and Value Pack Big prepaid bundles formerly offered by M-Budget.
How the new M-Budget bundles compare
Compared to similar offers from other mobile service providers, both the Prepaid Easy S and the Prepaid Easy M bundles are significantly cheaper for mobile users who only need the limited allowances which they include.
For 40 minutes of local calls, 40 local SMS messages and 40 megabytes of local data, the nearest competing offer (Coop Mobile) costs 7.85 francs. With a price-tag of 4 francs, the Prepaid Easy S from M-Budget is 49 percent cheaper than its nearest competition.
For 120 minutes of local calls, 200 local SMS messages and 200 megabytes of local data, the nearest competing offer (Aldi Mobile) costs 14.90 francs. At 9 francs, the Prepaid Easy M from M-Budget is 40 percent cheaper than its nearest competition.
The new M-Budget bundles do not take first place for the “Few phone calls” profile in the mobile plan and prepaid comparison. The reason for that is, that user profile is based on 5 local calls (2-minutes each) and 200 megabytes of local mobile data per month.
For that user profile, there are more affordable options. The cheapest options for that user profile are Coop Mobile (4.35 francs per month) and TalkTalk (5.15 francs per month). Other service providers like Lidl Connect, Yallo and even Swisscom offer solutions matching this user profile which cost less than 8 francs per month. So even Swisscom – which powers M-Budget – is cheaper than M-Budget for this user profile.
How M-Budget compares depends primarily on individual user needs. You can easily find out whether they are a good match for you by using the interactive mobile plan and prepaid offer comparison on moneyland.ch.
Verdict by telecom expert Ralf Beyeler
At first glance, the new M-Budget bundles appear very interesting. “But the new prepaid offers from M-Budget have one major weak point,” states telecom expert Ralf Beyeler of independent comparison service moneyland.ch.
Compared to the included call allowances, the mobile data allowances are very low. Many consumers – including phone users who only use minimal phone services – tend to use mobile data more than SMS messaging or phone calls.
From that perspective, it is a shame that M-Budget is removing its Value Pack prepaid bundles from its product lineup. Up until now, those bundles let M-Budget users get 300 megabytes of local data, 30 local SMS messages and 30 local call minutes for 10 francs for a 30-day term.
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