Independent online comparison service moneyland.ch conducts regular surveys of customer satisfaction among Swiss telecom users. The survey includes 1500 participants across Switzerland.
Participants in the 2020 survey rated their mobile service providers on each of these points individually: value for money; friendliness; helpfulness; availability; network quality; network coverage; mobile data; mobile roaming; customer services; information provided; billing; voice quality; notice periods; promotions; overall satisfaction.
Participants rated their mobile plan providers on each of these criteria on a scale of 1 to 10. A rating of 1 indicates complete dissatisfaction and a rating of 10 indicates complete satisfaction.
The results show that residents of Switzerland are generally satisfied with their telecom service providers. The average customer satisfaction rating across all mobile users and criteria is 7.4 out of 10 points. “However, there are large differences in customers satisfaction between different service providers and services,” says Ralf Beyeler, telecom expert at moneyland.ch.
Compared to 2019, customer satisfaction has gone down somewhat. A surprising development is that for the first time, Sunrise received higher customer satisfaction ratings than Swisscom.
Customers most satisfied with voice quality
Mobile users are most satisfied with voice quality (average 8.0 out of 10 points). This is followed by billing and mobile data (7.8 points each), network coverage and network quality (7.7 points each), and the friendliness of employees (7.6 points). Customer service, information provided and the helpfulness of employees come next with 7.3 points each. You can see a clear overview of average customer satisfaction per criterion here.
Lowest satisfaction with roaming
Customers are less satisfied with value for money and the availability of employees (7.1 points each). Notice periods (6.9 points) and promotions (6.5 points) received even poorer average ratings. Mobile roaming is, by a wide margin, the service with which mobile users are least satisfied (average 5.9 points).
“Roaming and notice periods are an ongoing point of contention for Swiss consumers. It is not surprising then, that customers give their mobile service providers such poor ratings for these points,” explains Ralf Beyeler. Although the cost of roaming has come down, it is still high. Mobile plan contracts with long terms are another ongoing object of dissatisfaction.
Ratings for the notice periods of Swisscom (6.5 points) and Salt (6.7 points) are exceptionally poor. Both of these mobile services still have long minimum term requirements for mobile plans – typically 12 or 24 months. Contracts with such long terms are the exception with other service providers.
Wingo and M-Budget customers are the most satisfied
Wingo and M-Budget received average customer satisfaction ratings of 8 out of 10 points – the highest ratings of all Swiss service providers. These are followed by Coop Mobile (7.8 points), Sunrise and UPC (7.6 points each), Swisscom (7.3 points), Salt and Yallo (7.2 points each). All customer satisfaction ratings are clearly shown in the interactive Swiss mobile plan comparison. You can see a clear overview of the weighted average ratings per mobile service provider here.
Satisfaction lower in French-speaking Switzerland
Differences in ratings given by women and men are not significant. The same holds true for differences between urban and rural residents. Differences between German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland are slightly more pronounced. Residents of French-speaking Switzerland are generally less satisfied with mobile services than residents of German-speaking Switzerland.
Customer satisfaction increases with age
Another interesting insight is that customer satisfaction is higher among older adults. Young adults between the ages of 18 and 25 years old give mobile services an average rating of 7.1 points. The average rating given by adults aged 26 to 49 is slightly higher at 7.2 points. Adults between the ages of 50 and 74 years old are significantly more satisfied, with an average customer satisfaction rating of 7.6 points.
Mobile data, which is a particularly important factor for young adults, received an average rating of 7.6 points from the 18 to 25 age group. The average rating given by the 26 to 49 age group is higher at 7.7 points, and adults in the 50 to 74 age group rate mobile data with 7.9 points on average.
Swisscom mobile customer satisfaction
Market leader Swisscom received a weighted average rating of 7.3 out of 10 points. That is lower than its 2019 customer satisfaction rating. Swisscom subsidiaries Wingo and M-Budget, on the other hand, received significantly better ratings compared to 2019.
Swisscom’s highest rating is for voice quality, which Swisscom customers rated 8 out of 10. This is followed by its network coverage (7.9 points), network quality and billing (7.8 points each). The lowest-rated criteria for Swisscom are value for money (6.2 points), promotions (5.8 points) and roaming (5.7 points).
“In terms of value for money, promotions and notice periods, Swisscom performs worse than its competitors. That is not surprising, considering that Swisscom does not run promotions as frequently as some other service providers and continues to sell contracts with minimum terms of 12 or 24 months,” says Ralf Beyeler.
Sunrise mobile customer satisfaction
Sunrise, the second-largest Swiss mobile service provider, received a weighted average satisfaction rating of 7.6 out of 10 points from its customers. That is higher than Swisscom’s customer satisfaction rating.
The highest ratings given by Sunrise customers are for billing (8.1 points), voice quality (8 points) and overall customer satisfaction (7.9 points). The lowest rating was given for mobile roaming, which Sunrise customers rated at 6.2 points.
Salt mobile customer satisfaction
Salt, Switzerland’s third-largest mobile service provider, received a weighted average rating of 7.2 points, putting it behind Sunrise and Swisscom – albeit by a narrow margin behind Swisscom. The lowest rating given by Salt customers is for mobile roaming (5.7 points).
UPC mobile customer satisfaction
The weighted average customer satisfaction rating given to UPC by its mobile customers is 7.6. out of 10 points. UPC’s customers gave UPC high ratings for value for money and the friendliness of employees (8.1 points each). Like other service providers, UPC’s lowest customer satisfaction rating is for mobile roaming (6.4 points).
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