UPC is raising its rates for landline telephone calls from September 1. Phone calls made from UPC numbers to other Swiss landline numbers will cost 10 centimes per minute – up from the current 8 centimes per minute. The price increase applies to the landline call services of plans such as UPC’s Phone plan.
Users who pay a flat fee for unlimited calls within the Swiss landline network (plans like Phone CH have a flat fee) will not be affected. The price change also does not apply to calls made via UPC’s mobile service.
UPC is not only raising its per-minute price for calls, it is also raising its call setup fee. Every paid landline call with UPC will now cost 20 centimes – up from the previous 12 centimes. The higher call setup fee also applies to calls to Swiss mobile networks and international phone calls.
Verdict by moneyland.ch telecom expert Ralf Beyeler
With its price hikes, UPC is raising its prices to match those of Sunrise. Sunrise charges its customers 10 centimes per minute plus 20 centimes per call for phone calls within Swiss landline networks. UPC and Sunrise are now the most expensive landline telephone service providers for calls within Switzerland. A 3-minute phone call now costs 50 centimes with both Sunrise and UPC. At 17 centimes or 29 centimes for a 3-minute landline call (depending on the day and time), Swisscom is significantly cheaper.
Other competing service providers like Netstream and green.ch are also much more affordable. Netstream charges 12 centimes for a 3-minute call, and green.ch charges just 9 centimes.
Through its price hikes, UPC hopes to encourage its customers to adopt plans with flat fees. UPC offers its customers flat fee landline plans which include unlimited calls within all Swiss landline and mobile networks for 10 francs per month.
Advice from Ralf Beyeler: Terminate your landline connection and use your mobile phone to make calls instead. This is especially true if you already pay a monthly flat fee for your mobile plan.
More on this topic:
Landline telephone plan comparison
