The Cheapest Swiss Mobile Plans and Prepaid Offers

More than 100 different mobile telecom subscriptions and prepaid mobile plans are offered in Switzerland, along with countless supplemental options and bundles. This makes navigating the jungle of rates to find the cheapest solutions difficult for consumers. Using its own mobile plan comparison, moneyland.ch conducted a detailed analysis of current offers.

Enormous price differences, huge savings potential

In October 2022, telecom expert Ralf Beyeler calculated the costs of Swiss mobile plans and prepaid mobile offers based on three user profiles: light users, average users, and heavy users.

“There are still very big differences between different offers,” observes Beyeler. But there is also good news: “There are now many very affordable offers. By migrating to a different plan, phone users can save a lot of money. The value of these savings should not be underestimated, especially given the current inflation.” For the analysis presented here, both the cheapest prepaid mobile offer and the cheapest mobile subscription from each telecom service provider were evaluated.

• Light user: From 53.80 francs per year

The light user profile accounts for five two-minute local phone calls within Switzerland and 500 megabytes of data use in Switzerland per month.

Without accounting for special promotions, Mucho has the cheapest prepaid mobile offer, with total costs of 53.80 francs over the first year for users matching this profile. It is followed by prepaid offers from retailers Lidl (73.80 francs) and Coop (87 francs).

For light users, prepaid mobile works out much cheaper than mobile plans. The cheapest mobile plan for this profile is offered by Talktalk and has total costs of 117.50 francs over the first year – more than twice the cost of the cheapest prepaid offer. The difference is even bigger for the mobile plans which take second and third place, with total costs of 184 francs and 240 francs.

The cost differences are especially pronounced for light users. The cheapest mobile plan from the most expensive service provider costs 633.80 francs. That is almost twelve times as expensive as the most affordable offer included in the evaluation.

It is also surprising that Swisscom is cheaper than Salt and Sunrise. “Swisscom is generally considered to be an expensive telecom service provider,” clarifies Beyeler.

Swiss telecom companies run regular special promotions to attract customers. But the moneyland.ch analysis shows that currently, using the promotional offers does not pay off for people who make very light use of their phones. The cheapest special promotional offer matching the light user profile costs 124 francs over the first year.

Table 1: The 10 cheapest solutions for light mobile phone users (excluding promotions)

• Average user: From 159.35 francs per year

The average user profile accounts for 5000 megabytes of mobile data use in Switzerland and 30 three-minute local phone calls within Switzerland per month. “For most mobile users, 5000 megabytes of data per month is more than sufficient,” says telecom expert Beyeler. That is especially true for users which do not use their mobile data connections for streaming.

Without accounting for promotional offers, the cheapest solution for the average user profile is the prepaid mobile offer from Mucho. The total cost over the first year is 209.80 francs. Digital Republic and Yallo share second place, with both costing 240 francs over the first year. Salt is the least-favorable service provider for users matching this profile, with its cheapest prepaid offer costing 882.80 francs. That is more than four times as expensive as the cheapest offer.

Whether an average user makes 30 calls per month or just one hardly affects the total costs. With many prepaid offers and mobile plans, the costs are identical. The most affordable service providers, in particular, generally cost the same for average users no matter how many or how few phone calls they make.

A total of 14 special promotional offers cost less than the cheapest standard-priced mobile plan from the same Swiss telecom service provider. The cheapest promotional offer costs around 50 francs less than the cheapest standard offer available. A person matching the average user profile would pay 159.35 francs in the first year for the cheapest special promotional offer available.

Table 2: The 10 cheapest solutions for average mobile phone users (excluding promotions)

• Heavy user: From 216 francs per year

The heavy user profile accounts for unlimited phone calls and data use within Switzerland. When analyzing this profile, moneyland.ch only accounted for offers which include unlimited local phone calls and data in their basic flat fees.

The cheapest solutions for heavy users are a prepaid mobile offer from Digital Republic and an offer from Yallo, both of which cost 240 francs over the first year. In third place is Teleboy, which costs 349 francs in the first year. Swisscom and Salt are both on the expensive end, with total costs for the first year sitting at 838.80 and 899.35 respectively.

For heavy users, there are currently two promotional offers which cost less than the cheapest standard-priced mobile plans. For around 216 francs in the first year, heavy users can get unlimited local calls and data. A dozen promotional offers are cheaper than the cheapest standard-priced offer from the same service provider.

Table 3: 10 cheapest solutions for heavy mobile phone users (excluding promotions)

Comparing offers based on your specific needs is worth it

The moneyland.ch analysis is based on generalized user profiles. “Costs can be very different depending on how a person uses their mobile phone,” explains Beyeler from moneyland.ch. He recommends doing a custom comparison based on your individual needs. The precise, interactive mobile service comparison on moneyland.ch lets you evaluate offers yourself using your own customized user profile. You can also see the exact costs of mobile roaming and making international phone calls. The comparison also lets you sort offers based on customer satisfaction ratings.

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