Mobile Plan Users Are Least Satisfied With Special Promotions And Mobile Roaming

7.8 out of a maximum of 10 points – that is the average satisfaction rating given to Swiss telecom companies by their customers. That is the result of this year's annual mobile plan customer satisfaction survey by online comparison service moneyland.ch. 1538 people took part in the representative survey.

Participants rated each of these points individually: Value for money; friendliness; helpfulness; availability; network quality; network coverage; mobile Internet; mobile roaming; customer service; information provided to customers; billing; voice quality; notice periods for contract terminations; special promotions; and overall satisfaction. Survey participants rated each point on a scale between 1 and 10. A rating of 1 indicates complete dissatisfaction, and a rating of 10 indicates complete satisfaction.

"Swiss consumers are generally content with their mobile plans and prepaid mobile services," observes moneyland.ch telecom expert Ralf Beyeler. The 7.8 point average rating translates into a "good" score.

M-Budget and Wingo users are the most satisfied

M-Budget Mobile and Wingo take first place in terms of customer satisfaction, both with 8.2 out of 10 points. They are followed by Aldi Suisse Mobile, Quickline and Swisscom with 8.0 points each. Coop Mobile (7.9 points), Lebara (7.8 points), and Yallo (7.7 points) are next in line. The lowest ratings went to Sunrise and Salt. Both of these major telecom companies have an average rating of 7.4 points. The detailed customers satisfaction ratings are included in the mobile plan comparison on moneyland.ch.

The highest-rated points

Participants are most satisfied with voice quality and billing (both 8.1 out of 10 points), followed by mobile Internet and network quality (8 points each), network coverage and friendliness of employees (7.8 points each). Points that received lower ratings include helpfulness of employees and information provided to customers (7.6 points each), as well as customer service and value for money (7.5 points each).

The worst-rated points

Users are least satisfied with special promotions, which received an average rating of just 7 points. Mobile roaming – making calls and using mobile data while traveling abroad – is also a point of grievance, with an average customer satisfaction rating of 7.1 points. Other points with relatively low ratings are notice periods for the termination of plans (7.3 points) and availability of customer services (7.4 points).

"Roaming is still expensive. Plans with long minimum contract terms are also still commonplace," explains Ralf Beyeler. "From a consumer perspective, it is surprising that service providers are not trying to improve their poor ratings in this regard."

Some mobile service providers also received exceptionally poor ratings for their required notice periods for terminating plans. These include: Salt (6.7 points); Sunrise (6.9 points); Swisscom, and Sunrise (7.2 points each). Many mobile plans from the three biggest telecom companies, in particular, still have minimum contract terms of 12 or 24 months.

Customers are discontent with special promotions

Special promotional offers receive the most critical ratings, on average, but individual ratings vary between mobile service providers. Wingo (8.5 out of 10 points) and Yallo (8.1 out of 10 points) received exceptionally good ratings in this regard. Both telecom providers regularly run special promotions for plans without minimum contract terms which are available to both new and existing customers.

Swisscom, once again, received the lowest ratings in this regard, with 6.5 out of 10 points. One likely reason for this is that Swisscom rarely has special promotional offers that are available to existing customers as well as new customers. Additionally, Swisscom customers are tied into their plans for longer contract terms. The costs are relatively high, even with discounts.

The other two major telecom network operators Sunrise (6.6 out of 10 points) and Salt (7 out of 10 points) also received lower ratings for their special promotions than other mobile service providers.

"Another reason for the poor ratings could be that many customers have realized that other people are paying much less for similar mobile plans," believes Ralf Beyeler.

Lack of satisfaction with mobile roaming

Consumers rated mobile roaming from their telecom service providers much more poorly than other points. Also Suisse Mobile (7.6 points) has the highest ratings in this regard, followed by Quickline (7.5 points) and Lebara (7.4 points). The worst ratings were given to Coop Mobile (6.7 points), and to M-Budget, Salt, and Sunrise (6.8 points each). Market leader Swisscom received 7.2 out of 10 points for mobile roaming.

Young people are less satisfied

There are no noteworthy differences between ratings given for individual points by men and women, urban and rural dwellers, or between French-speaking and German-speaking Switzerland. But there are differences between age groups.

The average customer satisfaction rating from survey participants in the youngest age group (18 to 25) is 7.6 out of 10 points. In the two other age groups, the ratings are slightly better at 7.8 out of 10 points. Customers between the ages of 18 and 25 are less satisfied with network coverage, billing, voice quality, and notice periods than consumers in other age groups. Participants in the oldest age group (50 to 74), for their part, are less satisfied with special promotions and mobile roaming than those in other age groups, but are more satisfied with voice quality, billing, and network quality than other residents.

A closer look at mobile data

For most Swiss mobile service providers, mobile data is likely the most important factor of all. Here too, there are big differences between telecom providers. Wingo leads in this regard, with a customer satisfaction rating of 8.5 points. Swisscom (8.3 points), M-Budget Mobile (8.2 points), as well as Aldi Suisse Mobile and Quickline (8.1 points each) follow. Wingo, Swisscom, and M-Budget Mobile all use the Swisscom mobile network. Aldi and Quickline use the Sunrise network. The lowest ratings for mobile data went to Salt and Sunrise (7.7 points each).

Customer satisfaction with Swisscom mobile plans

Switzerland's market leader Swisscom received a weighted average rating of 8 out of 10 points in 2023. It is interesting to note that the cheaper service providers M-Budget Mobile and Wingo, both of which also use the Swisscom network, received somewhat higher ratings.

The best ratings received by Swisscom are for voice quality, network coverage, and network quality, each of which receive a rating of 8.5 out of 10 points. These are followed by mobile data with 8.3 points. Swisscom's customers are least satisfied with special promotions (6.5 points), value for money (6.8 points), mobile roaming, and notice periods (7.2 points each).

Customer satisfaction with Sunrise mobile plans

The second-biggest Swiss mobile service provider Sunrise received some of the lowest ratings in the 2023 customer satisfaction survey, along with Salt. Both have an average rating of 7.4 out of 10 points. Sunrise customers are most satisfied with billing (7.9 points), voice quality (7.8 points), and mobile data (7.7 points). They are least satisfied with special promotions (6.6 points) and mobile roaming (6.8 points).

Customer satisfaction with Salt mobile plans

Salt, the third-largest mobile service provider in Switzerland, shared the last place with Sunrise, with a 7.4-point average customer satisfaction rating. Salt customers are most satisfied with voice quality (7.8 points), mobile data (7.7 points), and value for money (7.6 points). They are least satisfied with notice periods (6.7 points) and mobile roaming (6.8 points).

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