UPC moved from Salt to the Swisscom mobile network as its mobile service partner in January, 2019. As of January 17, 2019, UPC is replacing its former mobile plans. The UPC lineup now includes these four mobile plans: Mobile Flex Swiss, Mobile Unlimited Swiss, Mobile Flex Europe and Mobile Unlimited Europe.
The changes do not affect existing UPC customers, although they have the option of moving to one of the new plans at any time. The Mobile Europe Flat and Mobile Swiss Flat plans will no longer be offered to new applicants. New customers can choose between the four new mobile plans.
The four new UPC mobile plans reviewed
All of the new UPC mobile plans are included in the interactive mobile plan comparison on moneyland.ch.
UPC Mobile Flex Swiss
The Mobile Flex Swiss plan has a base fee of 29 Swiss francs per month. That fee includes unlimited phone calls within Swiss networks and 2 gigabytes of mobile data in Switzerland. Once the data allowance has been depleted, additional 1-gigabyte data bundles are automatically added at a cost of 10 francs per bundle. Users are billed for up to 3 additional 1-gigabyte bundles within 1 month. UPC informs customers when their data allowance is nearly depleted by SMS before adding new data bundles.
After a user has depleted 5 gigabytes of mobile data within a month, UPC automatically adds a data bundle which provides unlimited mobile data for the remainder of the month (the equivalent of the UPC Unlimited Swiss plan) at a final additional cost of 10 francs. That means the maximum cost of using this plan to make unlimited phone calls and use unlimited mobile data in Switzerland is 69 francs per month.
Plan users who do not want data bundles to be added automatically can opt out by SMS. Opting out means that no additional mobile data will be available once the included monthly allowance has been depleted – though users can still access the Internet via WLANs when these are available.
UPC Mobile Flex Europe
The Mobile Flex Europe plan packs the same benefits that come with the Mobile Flex Swiss but adds roaming allowances. The plan costs 39 francs per month. In addition to unlimited phone calls within Swiss networks, the monthly flat fee also includes 2-gigabytes of mobile data in Switzerland and European Union (EU) member countries. Plan users can also make unlimited phone calls from EU member countries to Switzerland and make and receive unlimited calls within local phone networks in the country they are traveling in.
Once the data allowance has been used, customers automatically receive an additional 1-gigabyte data bundle which can be used in Switzerland or for data roaming in EU countries, at a cost of 10 francs. The 10-franc charge applies to the first 3 additional data bundles to be added within 1 month. Once a total of 5 gigabytes of mobile data has been used within 1 month, a final additional data bundle is added which enables unlimited mobile data in Switzerland and up to 5 gigabytes of data roaming in EU countries over the rest of that month (the equivalent of the Unlimited Europe plan). The maximum cost of using this plan for the above-mentioned allowances is 79 francs per month.
UPC Unlimited Swiss
The Mobile Unlimited Swiss plan has a 69-franc monthly flat fee which covers unlimited mobile data and phone calls within Switzerland.
UPC Unlimited Europe
The Mobile Unlimited Europe plan includes unlimited mobile data and phone calls within Switzerland. The flat fee also covers these allowances for roaming in EU countries: 10 gigabytes of data roaming per month for mobile Internet access; unlimited call roaming within the same country and to Switzerland; unlimited incoming calls. The plan costs 79 francs per month.
Regardless of which plan you use, the rates charged by UPC for international phone calls from Switzerland to foreign countries have not changed. The roaming bundles offered by UPC have not been changed. UPC Connect Internet plan and Happy Home plan users benefit from a 10-franc discount on mobile plan monthly fees.
Verdict by moneyland.ch telecom expert Ralf Beyeler
The mobile data bundle system used by the Flex plan bears a strong resemblance to the Wingo offer. Phone users pay less when they do not consumer large amounts of mobile data, while having the flexibility to use larger amounts of mobile data when they need it. Users also benefit from the fact that if they use very large amounts of mobile data, they will pay a maximum of 69 francs per month.
Flat fees have been a common feature in the Swiss telecom market for many years. Now, UPC is finally offering flat-fee plans which include unlimited mobile data. This makes UPC plans more attractive to consumers who are put off by mobile data limits.
Another customer-friendly feature of UPC’s new plans is the absence of minimum contract terms. Users can easily migrate to other plans or service providers if they choose to, in keeping with the required notice period. Customers are no longer tied into long-term contracts.
UPC’s rates compared
Telecom expert Ralf Beyeler compared UPC’s rates with those of its competition. UPC mobile plans are more expensive than many other plans on the market. For example, a phone user who wants unlimited local calls and uses 5 gigabytes of local mobile data every month would pay 59 francs per month using the Flex Swiss plan. The same consumer would pay 39 francs per month for the same service using the Mobile Mega plan from M-Budget – one third less than the standard UPC rate (not accounting for possible discounts and promotional offers). In terms of mobile roaming, the cases in which the Europe plans from UPC work out cheapest are few.
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