Salt’s new mobile plans will be available to consumers from March 18, 2019. The 5 new Start, Basic, Swiss, Europe and World plans are replacing the Plus Start, Plus Basic, Plus Swiss, Plus Europe and Plus World plans which have been offered until now. Existing customers are not affected by the change, but they have the option of moving to one of the new plans when they extend their existing contracts.
Salt Start
The new Start plan hardly differs from the old Plus Start plan. Like its predecessor, it includes 1.5 gigabytes of local mobile data per month, 30 minutes of call time to landlines and other mobile networks, and unlimited calls within the Salt network. The only noticeable difference is the price: At 19.95 Swiss francs per month, the new Start plan costs 95 centimes more than the Plus Start plan.
Salt Basic
The new Basic plan has a higher mobile data allowance than the old Plus Basic plan, at 5 gigabytes per month compared to the Plus Basic’s 3 gigabytes per month. Like the old plan, its flat fee covers unlimited telephone calls within Swiss telecom networks. The cost, on the other hand, has gone down. The 34.95 per month price tag for the new Basic plan being around 4 francs lower than that of the old Plus Basic plan.
Salt Swiss
The new Swiss plans has significantly higher roaming allowances than the old Plus Swiss plan. Users now benefit from a 500-megabyte monthly data roaming allowance for EU member countries and the United States – up from the 200-megabyte data roaming allowance that came with the Plus Swiss plan. The new plan includes 60 international call minutes per month. As with the old Plus Swiss plan, the flat fee of the new Swiss plan covers unlimited mobile data in Switzerland and unlimited phone calls within Swiss telecom networks. At 59.95 francs per month, the price tag of the new Swiss plan is 95 centimes higher than that of its predecessor.
Salt Europe
The new Europe plan is identical to the Plus Europe plan which was launched in February 2019.
Salt World
The new World plan brings some changes compared to the Plus World plan. It includes unlimited data roaming in the United States and most European countries in its flat fee. The old Plus World plan only included a 5-gigabyte monthly data roaming allowance for Europe and the United States. The monthly fee for the new plan is 119.95 francs – 59 francs less than the old Plus Salt plan’s monthly fee. That means this plan is 33 percent cheaper than its predecessor.
But the new plan has significantly lower roaming allowances for countries aside from European countries and the United States than the old Plus World plan. The old plan included unlimited roaming calls in 160 additional countries. The new plan only includes 100 minutes of call roaming in 120 countries. The 1-gigabyte data roaming allowance for countries aside from European countries and the United States remains in place, but is only value for 120 countries instead of the 160 countries includes in the Plus World plan.
Three plans with youth discounts
The fees charged for the Basic, Swiss and Europe plans are discounted for individuals under 30 years of age. The youth discount of 10 francs off the monthly plan fee applies to all three of these plans.
How the new Salt plans compare to similar plans from Salt’s competitors:
How does Salt Swiss compare?
Plans which are comparable to the Salt Swiss plan include Wingo and Yallo Fat. Wingo – a Swisscom brand – includes unlimited calls and mobile data in Switzerland and a 1-gigabyte data roaming allowance for Europe at a maximum flat fee of 55 francs per month. The Yallo Fat plan costs 58 francs per month and includes 200-megabytes of data roaming in Europe per month and unlimited calls and mobile data within Switzerland.
The 500-megabyte data roaming allowance included in the Swiss plan from Salt is higher than that of the Yallo Fat plan, but only half the size of that included in the Wingo plan. However, the Salt plan is the only one which includes call roaming, with a fairly generous 60-minute call roaming allowance for Europe and the United States. All three of these plans are occasionally offered as heavily-discounted special promotions. Which plan is a better deal – without accounting for special promotions and discounts – depends entirely on the specific needs of individual mobile users. There is no one plan which outperforms the others in all regards.
How does Salt Europe compare?
Competing plans which are comparable to the Salt Europe plan include the inOne mobile go plan from Swisscom and the recently-updated Freedom europe & US plan from Sunrise. Both Swisscom and Sunrise advertise their plans as delivering unlimited data roaming – although they really only include 40-gigabyte data roaming allowances. Roaming data in excess of that limit is throttled. Swisscom’s plan costs 80 francs per month. The Sunrise plan costs 130 francs per month.
The Europe plan from Salt is somewhat more expensive than the Swisscom inOne mobile go plan, but the Europe plan actually delivers unlimited data roaming without throttling. The Salt and Sunrise plans include roaming in the United States, and also include international calling from Switzerland to other countries. Swisscom, on the other hand, only offers this as an optional add-on for an additional fee.
How does Salt World compare?
The inOne mobile premium from Swisscom is the only competing plan which is comparable to the Salt World plan. Salt’s plan costs 80 francs less per month than Swisscom’s. Aside from its price tag, the Salt plan also scores with unlimited data roaming included in its flat fee, compared to the Swisscom plan’s 100-gigabyte data roaming allowance for Europe. The Swisscom plan, on the other hand, includes more allowances for roaming outside of Europe and the United States. For example, Swisscom’s inOne mobile premium plan includes 10 gigabytes of data roaming and unlimited call roaming in countries like Brazil, New Zealand and Thailand. The Salt World plan is cheaper, but has lower roaming allowances for individuals who travel to countries other than the United States and European countries.
Verdict of moneyland.ch telecom expert Ralf Beyeler
The higher roaming allowances included in the new Salt Swiss plan make it an interesting option for many mobile users. The new plan includes 500-megabytes of data roaming and 60 minutes of call roaming per month in its basic fee. That will likely put pressure on Sunrise’s budget brand Yallo. The Yallo Fat plan only includes 200 megabytes of data roaming per month, and has no call roaming allowances. Swisscom will also feel the heat, and will likely add some form of call roaming allowance to its budget Wingo plan in the near future.
Taken as a whole, the new Salt plans do not represent a major revolution in the mobile market. Instead, the updates are about Salt making small adjustments to its existing plans. Whether or not mobile users can benefit from these changes depends on their individual needs. Comparing offers using the interactive mobile plan comparison on moneyland.ch is a good first step. Keeping track of special offers and promotions is also beneficial.
More on this topic:
Interactive mobile plan comparison
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