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Telecom News

Swisscom Launches New Mobile Plans – But Maintains High Price Tags

January 31, 2019 - Ralf Beyeler

Swisscom is revamping its mobile lineup. Ralf Beyeler, telecom expert at independent online comparison service moneyland.ch, examined the new mobile plans. The verdict: The changes have had little impact on the cost of Swisscom plans, which remain expensive. And contrary to the predictions of many market observers, Swisscom has not made mobile roaming obsolete.

Switzerland’s biggest mobile service provider is launching new mobile plans. The new inOne mobile basic, inOne mobile go, inOne mobile premium, Swiss mobile light and Swiss mobile flat plans have been added to its product lineup. These plans replace Swisscom’s existing plans starting February 25, 2019 (Exception: Swiss mobile light will be offered from April 2019).

Existing customers will retain their existing mobile plans, but can migrate to the new plans if they so choose. Customers who have signed up for or extended a mobile plan within the past 12 months may be required to pay a migrating fee if they choose to move to one of the new plans. All other customers can migrate free of charge.

inOne mobile go: Swisscom fails to make roaming charges a thing of the past

The most significant change: Swisscom’s new inOne mobile go plan offers almost unlimited data roaming. Users can make unlimited calls (call roaming) and use up to 40 gigabytes per month of mobile data within most of Europe (data roaming). Once the 40-gigabyte monthly data roaming limit is exceeded, data transfer speeds are throttled to an extremely low 128 Kbps.

Many market observers were quick to comment – almost euphorically – that Swisscom had finally abolished the concept of roaming altogether. “Of course, that is not the case. Swisscom simply worked the roaming fees into plan flat fees,” clarifies moneyland.ch telecom expert Ralf Beyeler.

In its favor, Swisscom’s data roaming allowances of 40 gigabytes and more than 100 gigabytes are, by a wide margin, the highest included in Swiss flat fee mobile plans. “Swisscom’s competitors will have to get back to the drawing table and rethink their data roaming allowances,” predicts moneyland.ch expert Beyeler.

Another plus for consumers: Swisscom is finally doing away with its complex system of roaming days. Previously, Swisscom users with relevant plans could only use mobile roaming services for a limited number of days per year.

Heavy flat fee for inOne mobile go

The biggest disadvantage is the price tag: The new inOne mobile go plan costs 80 francs per month. Customers who also use a Swisscom broadband plan at home get a 20-franc monthly discount.

This plan is designed for mobile users who frequently travel abroad. Individuals who only occasionally travel abroad for vacations or visits will find the plan less appealing.

A plan with unlimited local calls and 2 gigabytes of local mobile data within Switzerland is sufficient for most Swiss mobile users. These plans are offered by many mobile service providers starting from 30 francs per month, and users can easily add roaming options or roaming bundles when needed. This works out a great deal cheaper for most users than Swisscom’s inOne mobile go plan.

Plans and devices now sold separately

Another important change is that the plans will be sold independently of devices. By breaking from its bundled device and plan regimen, Swisscom is mimicking Sunrise, which became the first Swiss mobile service provider to sell plans independently of devices some years ago.

 “That Swisscom is now selling plans independently of devices is a welcome change,” states Ralf Beyeler of moneyland.ch. With this change, Swisscom joins many other Swiss mobile service providers like UPC and M-Budget in addition to Sunrise, which already sell plans and devices separately.

Mobile plans with limited data speeds

The data transfer speeds delivered by the inOne mobile go plan are limited to 100 Mbps for downloads and 10 Mbps for uploads. The other plans are limited to 50 Mbps for downloads and 10 Mbps for uploads. Users can increase data transfer speeds to 1 Gbps for an additional fee of 10 francs per month.

inOne mobile premium: Comprehensive but expensive

The inOne mobile premium plan is the most comprehensive mobile plan from Swisscom. The plan costs 200 francs per month. Customers who also have a home broadband plan benefit from a 20-franc discount on the monthly fee. The plan includes unlimited calling and mobile data within Switzerland. Data transfer speeds of up to 1 Gbps will be possible when the new 5G network begins to operate, but that should be taken as a hypothetical maximum possible speed.

The plan includes a broad range of other services in its flat fee. Users benefit from unlimited call roaming at no extra charge in most of Europe, in Canada, in the U.S. and in some other countries. Additionally, the plan includes 100 gigabytes of data roaming in most of Europe, in the U.S and in Canada. The plan also includes a 10-gigabyte data roaming allowance for some other countries (including Australia, China and Thailand), and a 1-gigabyte data roaming allowance for others (including Costa Rica and Vietnam).

inOne mobile basic

The inOne mobile basic plan has a flat fee of 45 francs per month and includes unlimited calls within Switzerland. It also includes call roaming within Europe and 2 gigabytes of mobile data which can be used in Switzerland or abroad.

Swiss mobile light

The Swiss mobile light plan has a 25-franc monthly flat fee and includes unlimited calls within the Swisscom network. Calls to all other networks cost 40 centimes per minute. The plan includes 500 megabytes of mobile data in Switzerland per month. Data transfer speeds are limited to 50 Mbps.

Swiss mobile flat

Users pay a flat fee of 65 francs per month for unlimited calling and mobile data within Switzerland. This plan does not include any roaming allowances. Data transfer speeds are limited to 50 Mbps.

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Expert Ralf Beyeler
Ralf Beyeler is the telecom expert at moneyland.ch and also covers other areas of personal finance.