Mobile Roaming: Many Swiss Carriers Have Lowered Their Prices

Whether on a beach holiday, a city trip, or visiting relatives, most people will be accompanied by their phones. Most activities done on a phone, from browsing the web to using navigation services or texting on Whatsapp, require an Internet connection. Roaming bundles are one solution for staying online while traveling.

The summer travel season is approaching, and for that reason, moneyland.ch conducted a detailed analysis of and comparison of mobile roaming bundles from Swiss carriers. Like last year’s study, the analysis was based on three different cost comparisons.

A lot has changed in the roaming landscape

This year has brought more changes to the Swiss mobile roaming market than we have seen in a long time. Numerous carriers have recently lowered their prices,” observes moneyland.ch telecom expert Ralf Beyeler. Roaming with Salt and Coop Mobile, in particular, has gotten massively cheaper since last summer. But carriers like Quickline, Digital Republic, and Sunrise have also lowered their prices.

But there are also carriers that have not lowered their prices. The cost of roaming in EU countries with Sunrise subsidiaries Swype, Lebara, and Yallo has remained unchanged for five years now.

Since the start of June 2026, Salt customers have benefited from the expansion of Salt’s Europe zone to include all EU countries. That change also applies to Salt subsidiaries Gomo, Lidl Connect, Post Mobile, and Sky Mobile. The Europe zones used by Swisscom, Sunrise, and other carriers have already included all EU countries for many years now. The advantage: Travelers can use a single bundle to get online in all EU countries, plus some other European countries like the United Kingdom and Norway.

Cost comparison 1: Call and data roaming in EU countries

The first cost comparison is based on a typical holidaymaker profile: Four trips to various EU countries per year, including a two-week summer holiday, a one-week autumn holiday, and two four-day city trips. The profile accounts for a total usage of 14 gigabytes of data and 30 minutes of phone calls across all trips combined.

For this cost comparison, M-Tel is the cheapest, with total roaming costs of 33.75 francs. Next in line are Salt and its subsidiaries Gomo, Lidl Connect, Post Mobile, and Sky Mobile – all with total roaming costs of 39.95 francs. Swisscom (75.80 francs) and Sunrise (102.70 francs) are much more expensive for this profile. The most expensive carriers for this profile are Sunrise subsidiaries CH Mobile, Lebara, and Yallo, each of which has total roaming costs of 160 francs. You can see the detailed results in table 1.

“The price level has sunk substantially. Of the 20 Swiss mobile carriers included in the analysis, 15 now have total roaming costs of less than 100 francs for this profile. In 2025, only four carriers fell into that price range,” explains Ralf Beyeler.

That Salt performed very well in this comparison comes as a surprise. In past years, Salt was consistently among the most expensive carriers in the moneyland.ch roaming study. In 2025, the costs of roaming in EU countries with Salt ranged between 175.25 francs and 328.20 francs, depending on the country. The new Europe bundle with a one-year validity period has reduced the cost to 39.95 francs – a price drop of up to 87.80 percent. Coop Mobile also stands out: While the total costs for this profile are still 76.70 francs, that amount is 200 francs less than last year – a price reduction of 72 percent compared to 2025. 

Cost comparison 2: Data roaming in EU countries

The second cost comparison only accounts for the costs of data roaming in EU countries.

Most carriers let customers choose between a selection of bundles, with different amounts of data. Typically, a one-gigabyte bundle costs between seven and 10 francs, a three-gigabyte bundle costs between 15 and 30 francs, and a 10-gigabyte bundle costs between 35 and 60 francs. M-Tel is substantially cheaper, with bundles costing three, six, and 15 francs respectively. 

Salt, Gomo, Lidl Connect, Post Mobile, and Sky Mobile use a different approach, offering just one 20-gigabyte bundle with a one-year validity term for 39.95 francs. That model makes these carriers relatively expensive for travelers who only need small amounts of roaming data.

Because Swiss carriers offer more than one bundle, moneyland.ch calculated the average price per gigabyte. The calculations are based on 91 data points with volumes between one and 10 gigabytes. That way, the calculations also cover the case in which a customer has to buy larger bundles but does not use the included data allowance in full.

The clear winner in this comparison is M-Tel, with an average price of 2.29 francs per gigabyte. It is followed by Spusu with 3.91 francs, and Digital Republic with 5.35 francs per gigabyte. The three big network operators are all more expensive: The average price per gigabyte is 6.82 francs for Sunrise, 8.41 francs for Swisscom, and 10.36 francs for Salt. But Swisscom also offers bundles that can only be used in a single country, and the cost of such a bundle for an EU country is 5.34 francs per gigabyte, on average.

Cost comparison 3: Data roaming in non-EU countries

The third cost comparison accounts for the costs of using data while roaming in non-EU countries. The 13 countries and territories used for the comparison are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cuba, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, the US, and Vietnam.

Like the comparison of data roaming in EU countries, the comparison is based on 91 samplings of costs for the 13 countries for data volumes between 1 and 10 gigabytes.

In this comparison, the cheapest carrier varies depending on the travel destination. On the whole, Spusu is the clear winner, with the lowest data roaming costs for eight of the 13 countries, and the second-lowest costs in another three countries. M-Tel is the cheapest for four of the countries, and the second-cheapest for another five. But M-Tel is also the most expensive carrier for certain travel destinations – namely Cuba, Thailand, Tunisia, and Vietnam.  

The average per-gigabyte price varies sharply depending on the country and carrier. In many cases, one gigabyte costs just a few francs. But there are also cases in which using a gigabyte of roaming data could hypothetically cost several hundred francs.

Big differences between carriers

The comparison highlights the huge differences between Swiss mobile carriers. For data roaming in EU countries, the cheapest carrier charges just 2.29 francs per gigabyte, while the most expensive charges 10.99 francs – nearly five times as much.

The most extreme examples apply to roaming in Vietnam, Montenegro, and Thailand. The cheapest Swiss carrier charges 3.91 francs per gigabyte, on average. The most expensive carrier would hypothetically charge nearly 1000 francs at listed rates – 256 times more.

Expert tips for roaming

“While bundles have become cheaper, on the whole, roaming is still a service that consumers should tread carefully with. Roaming at standard rates or buying the wrong bundle can result in high costs,” says Ralf Beyeler from moneyland.ch.

For that reason, you should take time to get informed ahead of your trip. You should also look at alternatives to roaming, such as local SIMs and travel eSIMs. “Travelers who take the time to check whether their mobile plan already includes roaming allowances, and add the right bundles when necessary, are the ones who will profit from the lowest roaming costs,” advises the telecom expert.

The online comparison service moneyland.ch has many useful guides on this topic:

• The best tips for getting online while roaming
• The best data-roaming bundles for Europe
• Are mobile plans with included roaming worth it?
• Tips for making calls while roaming

You can find the detailed results of the study in the separate tables.