The summer holidays are inching closer, and most people will continue using their phones to get online and make calls while traveling in other countries. Telecom expert Ralf Beyeler from online comparison service moneyland.ch studied the current roaming offers from Swiss mobile carriers ahead of the travel season.
The risk of being charged high fees for roaming is still with us, so getting informed about roaming solutions for your destination before you travel can help you avoid unpleasant surprises. Often, using a separate travel eSIM or a prepaid SIM from a local carrier in your destination country works out cheaper than using your Swiss carrier’s roaming services. But if you prefer the convenience of continuing to use your regular Swiss carrier, then you are best off buying a suitable data bundle while you are still in Switzerland, advises Ralf Beyeler. “Simply using the Internet while traveling without taking any preliminary steps can become very expensive very fast. In the worst-case scenario, you could end up with a phone bill of hundreds of francs.”
For the following evaluation, moneyland.ch analyzed and compared Swiss mobile carriers in three separate comparisons. moneyland.ch only accounted for roaming bundles and roaming options. Prepaid mobile offers were not accounted for because their use in Switzerland is marginal.
Spusu leads in the first comparison
The user profile used for first comparison is based on a typical Swiss holidaymaker who takes three trips to EU countries per year: a two-week summer holiday, a one-week autumn holiday, and two four-day getaways. The moneyland.ch roaming calculations are based on a total of 30 minutes of phone calls and 14 gigabytes of data per year, and the assumption that the traveler visits a different EU country on each trip.
The results of the first comparison are surprising in that Spusu – a complete newcomer to the Swiss telecom space – is the cheapest carrier for this profile. The Austrian telecom service provider, which launched in Switzerland less than a year ago, has a total cost of 68 francs for this user profile. It is followed by Swisscom (75.80 francs) and the Sunrise subsidiary Swype (87 francs). Digital Republic came in fourth with costs of 95 francs.
Swisscom subsidiaries are more expensive
Swisscom’s subsidiaries M-Budget and Wingo (both 124.70 francs), as well as Coop Mobile (276.90 francs) ranked substantially lower than Swisscom itself. Coop Mobile is 265 percent more expensive than Swisscom for this user profile.
A look at Sunrise subsidiaries shows that Swype is relatively cheap, but other Sunrise subsidiaries like Aldi Suisse Mobile (119.60), Lebara, and Yallo (both 160 francs) are more expensive. The main Sunrise brand is also relatively expensive for roaming (154.40 francs).
Galaxus Mobile has costs of 140.70 francs for this profile, Teleboy costs 155 francs, iWay costs 169 francs, and Quickline costs 186.70 francs.
Swisscom is focusing on country-specific bundles
The biggest Swiss mobile carrier Swisscom now places a strong focus on country-specific data roaming bundles, each of which is only valid in a single country. At first glance, these offers are cheaper than bundles that cover an entire zone with many different countries. For example, for one gigabyte of data, Swisscom charges 5.90 for a country-specific bundle compared to 9.90 for a zone bundle. A 20-gigabyte bundle costs 39.90 for just one country, and 59.90 for a whole zone.
But travelers who visit four different countries in one year – as in the profile used for the comparison – would have to buy four different country-specific bundles. The total cost would be 85.20 francs, which is nearly 10 francs more than the cost of a bundle for the whole zone. So country-specific bundles are only substantially cheaper if you only travel to just one country, in which case the total cost would be just 55.80 francs.
Salt: The travel destination determines the price
Salt separates EU countries into two different roaming zones. As a result, there can be big differences in costs depending on which countries you travel to. The cost of roaming with Salt, for the profile used, ranges between 175.25 and 328.20 francs. Salt subsidiaries Gomo, Lidl Connect, and Post Mobile also use the same zones, with costs ranging between 152.80 and 337.80 francs. In the case of Salt and Lidl Connect, the exact costs depend on the length of the trip, and can be lower in some cases.
What do data-only roaming bundles for EU countries cost?
Classic phone calls are increasingly losing significance compared to mobile data. In light of that development, moneyland.ch also compared the costs of data-only roaming bundles for EU countries (see Table 2).
Because Swiss carriers generally offer several different roaming bundles, moneyland.ch calculated the average cost per gigabyte based on 91 different bundle sizes between one and 10 gigabytes. That accounts for the possibility that travelers may have to buy larger bundles which they will not use in full.
As in the first comparison, Spusu emerges as the clear victor – in spite of the fact that this carrier only uses a standard fee schedule and does not offer any roaming bundles. The cost of one gigabyte of roaming data from Spusu is four francs. Digital Republic comes in second, with an average cost of 7.70 francs per gigabyte (nearly 93 percent more than Spusu). Swisscom (zone bundles) takes third place, with an average cost of 8.41 francs.
Sunrise is much more expensive, with an average cost of 10.64 francs per gigabyte, as are Galaxus Mobile (10.99 francs), M-Budget Mobile (11.16 francs), and Wingo (also 11.16 francs). Coop Mobile is the most expensive (20 francs), costing 400 percent more than Spusu.
For carriers that have different prices for individual EU countries, there may be multiple average values. One gigabyte of roaming data from Salt, Lidl Connect, and Post Mobile costs either 14.14 francs or 20.95 francs, on average. With Gomo, the cost is either 11.06 francs or 22.15 francs. With Mucho Mobile, the cost is either 11.76 francs or 20.98 francs.
Which Swiss carrier has the cheapest roaming for non-EU countries?
Price differences are much larger for roaming in non-EU countries. But there are also EU countries where travelers should use roaming with caution. Salt – including its subsidiaries Gomo, Lidl Connect, and Post Mobile – does not include certain EU countries (Croatia, for example) in its low-cost Europe zone.
As with roaming in the EU, moneyland.ch compared the costs of between one and 10 gigabytes of data in 14 countries based on 91 samples.
Which carrier is cheapest depends on which country you are traveling to. Without accounting for country-specific roaming bundles and Swisscom’s Caribbean bundle, Spusu would be the cheapest carrier for seven countries, Sunrise in five countries, and Galaxus Mobile and Swisscom in one country each. The cost of roaming with Spusu is just four francs per gigabyte in Croatia, Serbia, Thailand, and the US, and 7 francs per gigabyte in Canada and Turkey. Sunrise is cheapest for roaming in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Tunisia, with an average cost of 12.17 francs per gigabyte.
Whether or not getting a country-specific bundle makes sense heavily depends on your travel destination and travel route. Swisscom customers who travel through multiple non-EU countries – certain Balkan countries, for example – can save money by using a zone bundle. But travelers who visit just a single non-EU country – air passengers who fly directly to Albania, Canada, or Thailand, for example – can often save by using a country-specific roaming bundle. If your travel itinerary includes several countries, it is always worth checking the exact pricing, as getting a bundle for an entire zone is often the cheaper option.
Swisscom offers one gigabyte of data for less than 10 francs in all of the countries included in the analysis
If you account for Swisscom’s country-specific roaming bundles and Caribbean roaming bundle, Swisscom is the cheapest roaming service provider for these nine countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Cuba, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Tunisia, and Turkey. The average cost varies between 6.89 francs and 8.05 francs. Spusu remains the cheapest option for roaming in Croatia, Serbia, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam even when Swisscom’s special bundles are accounted for.
It is interesting to note that Swisscom is the only carrier that offers data roaming at under 10 francs per gigabyte in all EU countries and all of the other travel destinations included in the comparison. Cuba is the most expensive country to roam in with Swisscom, with a cost of 8.05 francs per gigabyte. Other service providers charge much more for their most expensive roaming destinations. The cost of one gigabyte in a carrier’s most expensive roaming destination is 57.07 francs with M-Budget and Wingo, 144.34 francs with Sunrise, and 411.58 francs with Salt. Using one gigabyte of roaming data in Cuba with Spusu would hypothetically cost 1418 francs, but in practice the cost limit will be reached before the bill could climb that high.
The most expensive carrier costs up to 176 times more than the cheapest
There are enormous differences between the cheapest and the most expensive offers. For all of the analyzed countries, using the cheapest carrier costs less than 10 francs per gigabyte. In some EU countries like Spain and Italy, the most expensive service provider costs around 20 francs – five times more than the cheapest service provider (four francs). In Tunisia (7.51 francs to 780 francs) and Vietnam (7 francs to 780 francs), the most expensive carrier charges more than 100 times more than the cheapest carrier. The biggest price differences apply to Cuba, with the cheapest carrier charging 6.89 francs, and the most expensive charging 1418 francs (176 times more).
Prices have remained stable
A look at the most recent price developments is also interesting. Compared to last year’s analysis – which used a profile based on 6 gigabytes of data and 120 minutes of calls - roaming has gotten 17.3 percent cheaper with Swisscom and 14.4 percent cheaper with Aldi Suisse Mobile. The new division of EU countries into two different zones has impacted Gomo, with roaming in countries like Spain and Italy becoming up to 44.3 percent cheaper, while roaming in other countries like Croatia has gotten up to 73.4 percent more expensive.
A four-year comparison shows a clear trend. Since Summer 2021, when most Swiss carriers introduced roaming bundles that remained valid for 12 months, the costs for the same user profile have sunk drastically. The price drops at Swisscom (-35.8 percent), Sunrise (-32.8 percent), and Galaxus Mobile (-25.1 percent) were exceptionally large. M-Budget Mobile and Wingo have also become around 22.6 percent cheaper.
Roaming costs from Coop Mobile, Lebara, Swype, Quickline, and Yallo for the profile used have not changed even once since 2021. The prices have remained identical for the past four years.
Tips from experts
Telecom expert Ralf Beyeler offers the following tips for mobile roaming:
- Phone call cost pitfalls: Today, getting an exorbitant phone bill just on account of getting online while roaming is rare for customers of Swiss carriers because the Internet connection is generally cut when you hit a certain limit. But that does not apply to phone calls. Making a one-hour phone call while roaming in an EU country, for example, can still cost 180 francs. You can save money by getting a suitable roaming option.
- Mobile plans with included roaming allowances: Many Swiss mobile plans already included some roaming allowances – such as a certain amount of data for roaming in some countries. But mobile plans with very large roaming allowances can often work out very expensive for average holidaymakers. You can find detailed information in the guide to Swiss mobile plans that include roaming.
- Consider annual bundles: If you travel several times per year, then it is worth informing yourself about annual bundles from your carrier. Most Swiss mobile carriers have annual roaming bundles in their product lineups. Large bundles that only expire after 12 months have a lower per-gigabyte price than smaller bundles. Important: Avoid buying bundles that have much more data than you are likely to need, as unused data will expire at the end of the one-year term.
- Travel eSIMs can be an alternative: In many cases, using a separate travel eSIM works out cheaper than using roaming services from Swiss carriers, as a moneyland.ch study shows. In order to use travel eSIM offers, your phone must support eSIMs. That is the case with iPhones, but many Android devices do not have eSIM functionality. When looking at travel eSIM offers, pay attention to the exact terms and conditions, as well as the validity period.
You can find more tips for getting online and making phone calls using roaming in the dedicated moneyland.ch guides.
You can find detailed information in the separate tables (German PDF).
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