Salt: Cheaper Roaming in Balkan Countries

Swiss mobile carrier Salt has expanded its Data Day Pass lineup of single-day roaming bundles with a new bundle for its World zone. These add to the existing palette of daily roaming bundles for countries in the Europe and Travel zones. These bundles are also offered with identical terms and conditions by Salt’s subsidiaries Gomo, Lidl Connect, and Post Mobile.

The Data Day Pass for the World zone costs 9.95 francs per day, and includes one gigabyte of data. Once the included data has been used up, the connection is throttled to 128 Kbps.

This daily bundle is can be used for mobile Internet in these countries:

• Albania
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Costa Rica
• Egypt
• Guatemala
• Jordan
• Cambodia
• Cameroon
• Kenya
• Kosovo
• Montenegro
• North Macedonia
• Philippines
• Puerto Rico
• Senegal
• Serbia
• South Korea
• Sri Lanka
• Ukraine
• Vietnam

The World Zone includes a number of Balkan countries, which is noteworthy because many of Switzerland’s residents have connections to that region.

Changes to roaming zones

Salt is also making a number of changes to its roaming zones, with 39 countries being shifted from the Far zone into the World zone. That change means roaming will be cheaper in countries like Bolivia, Jamaica, and Tunisia. On the other hand, 20 countries are being moved from the World zone to the Far zone, so roaming in those countries will be more expensive. That affects countries like Cambodia, Cameroon, and Fiji.

Analysis of daily data bundles for the Europe zone

When does using a one-day data bundle for Salt’s Europe zone make sense compared to getting an annual bundle that only expires after a whole year? The Europe zone includes most EU countries, but not all.

To find out, moneyland.ch conducted a detailed analysis based on up to 30 days of travel to European countries per year, and consumption of 100 to 1000 megabytes of data per day.

The results:

• If you use mobile Internet while roaming for one to five days per year, then using daily bundles is cheaper.
• If you use roaming for six or more days per year, consuming an average of 300 megabytes per day, then using a regular roaming bundle is cheaper.
• If you use roaming for 20 or more days per year, consuming an average of 500 megabytes or less per day, then using an annual roaming bundle is cheaper.
• If you use an average of 550 megabytes per day, using daily bundles is cheaper than using regular roaming bundles.

Even after the introduction of the new daily bundles, Salt is still one of the more expensive carriers for roaming. For example, if you were to use mobile roaming in European countries for 20 days per year, you would have to spend 99 francs on daily bundles. In exchange, you would get a maximum of 20 gigabytes of high-speed roaming data. At Swisscom, a similar bundle with 20 gigabytes of roaming data would cost just under 60 francs, regardless of the number of days.

Analysis of daily bundles for the Travel zone

moneyland.ch performed a comprehensive analysis in which it calculated the cost of using roaming in countries that fall into Salt’s Travel zone. Calculations are based on up to 30 days of use per year, with daily data volumes between 100 and 1000 megabytes.

The results:

• If you use roaming for four days or less, using daily bundles is cheaper.
• If you use roaming for five or more days, with an average daily consumption of 500 megabytes, using regular bundles is cheaper.
• If you use roaming on 16 days per year, or more, with an average daily consumption of 650 megabytes or less, then using regular roaming bundles is cheaper.
• If you use more than 750 megabytes of roaming data per data, using daily bundles is cheaper, in most cases.

Salt is a relatively expensive carrier when it comes to roaming, even when you account for its daily roaming bundles. Buying 10 daily roaming bundles will cost you 99 francs. In exchange, you get a maximum of 10 gigabytes of high-speed data. Swisscom charges just under 70 francs for a 10-gigabyte roaming data bundle, and that is without data being limited to a certain number of days.

Analysis of daily bundles for the World zone

The moneyland.ch analysis clearly shows that using daily bundles is often cheaper than using regular roaming data bundles. But here too, Salt is much more expensive than its competitors. Using daily bundles for 10 days or roaming costs 99 francs with Salt, and you get a maximum of 10 gigabytes of high-speed mobile data. Swisscom charges nearly 70 francs for a 10-gigabyte roaming bundle for the zone that includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Swisscom also offers bundles that are only valid for one country at a price of just under 50 francs for 20 gigabytes of data.