Roaming Guide – All you need to know about using your mobile phone abroad during your holidays
If you often use your mobile phone abroad to make calls, send text messages or surf the internet, you risk a high bill. But with our tips, that won’t happen to you. Find out here what your provider’s standard tariffs are and what alternatives you have for surfing abroad. What’s more worthwhile, buying a local prepaid SIM, a zero-month subscription with roaming or a data package from your Swiss provider? We’ll give you all the information you need about the different options so you can make a decision that fits your budget.
Table of contents
- Which roaming type are you – Your suitable roaming solution
- This is how much data you need on holiday
- Telephony abroad
- Tips before departure
- Checklist: Mobile phone use abroad
Which roaming type are you?
Additional costs are incurred for mobile phone use outside the Swiss borders. This cannot be prevented, but depending on which roaming type you are, you can keep the costs as low as possible. To help you make an informed decision, we have compiled an overview of the various options. You can choose from the following:
- Sparfuchs Prepaid – CHF
- Sparfuchs variant 0 month subscription
- Traveller version
- Spenable variant
For those who want to save money: buy a local prepaid card
To avoid roaming costs altogether, many Swiss tourists buy a local prepaid SIM card in the country they are travelling to. You can often find these right at the airport or alternatively directly in the provider shops.
Although you usually get a high amount of data for surfing for a relatively low price, this solution also has its challenges. For example, it can be complicated to buy a SIM in the provider shops if you don’t speak the language. Some SIM cards are not available if you don’t live in the country. It is also annoying to have to change your mobile phone number while travelling.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| + No roaming charges | – Difficulties in purchasing due to language barriers |
| + A lot of data for little money (1 GB in some cases from 10 euros) | – Difficulties in purchasing due to lack of residence in the country |
| – Local SIM has its own number – therefore you cannot use your own mobile number during your trip. |
Savings option: Subscription with 0-month minimum contract period
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| + Cheap | – Other number in mobile phone |
| + Can you plan before the holiday | |
| + No language barrier, | |
| + Swiss service | |
| + Swiss number for calls to Switzerland |
If you want more data and calls for the lowest possible price, a roaming-inclusive subscription without a minimum contract period is probably the best option. You can cancel these subscriptions after one month, so you don’t have to pay for extra roaming options you don’t need for the whole year. However, taking out a new subscription means that you get a new SIM and therefore a new number. This means that while you are on holiday, you cannot be reached on your usual number.
How expensive is a roaming subscription without a minimum contract period?
That depends on the provider. Wingo, yallo and Mbudget, for example, offer their subscriptions without a minimum contract period. The cost of such a subscription, which includes roaming data for both surfing and making calls abroad, is around CHF 60. The exact price depends, of course, on the amount of data you want. Is that still too expensive for you?
Don’t worry, alao offers you subscriptions from the most popular Swiss providers with a discount of up to 75%. So check out the subscription finder to find a subscription that suits you!
For travellers: subscriptions with roaming included
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| + You don’t have to worry about adding options | – High monthly costs |
| + No fear of horror bills | – Included roaming data may not be valid in all countries of travel. |
| + Data credit is renewed monthly |
Many subscriptions now include roaming in full or at least in part. The roaming costs are therefore already included in the subscription price. However, this also means that the monthly subscription price is correspondingly higher – unless you find a bargain. You can find a bargain on alao, for example, where the mobile phone subscriptions of Swiss providers are up to 75% cheaper. Take a look at the subscription finder now.
Roaming subscription only worthwhile for frequent travellers
Due to the high monthly costs, a mobile phone subscription with roaming is only worthwhile if you are a frequent traveller. For example, if you have to travel abroad frequently on business. However, if you only go on holiday once for a fortnight, it’s not worth it for you – especially if it involves several gigabytes of roaming data. What’s more, depending on the country you’re travelling to, the included roaming is not even valid there and you still have to buy an additional package. Especially if you are travelling outside the EU. With a roaming subscription, however, you never have to worry about unbelievably high bills after your holidays and are well equipped for all your trips, whether short or long.
Spendable variant: Buy data packages from your provider
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
| + 12 months validity | – Very expensive depending on the amount of data |
| – Manual booking |
Simply buy a data package for abroad online from your provider. Because it is valid for 12 months, you can also use your data package over several trips. This is very practical and especially worthwhile if you take a lot of short trips. However, depending on the destination and the amount of data, the data packages can be expensive. In the following table, we have summarised the cheapest data packages of the Swiss providers.
How much data do I need on average abroad?
To choose between the different alternatives, it is also useful to know how much data you will actually need during the holidays. To help you, we’ve created a common holiday day and calculated the data usage for it.
Average data usage on a holiday:
- Sending around 30 WhatsApp messages: 30 KB
- Sending 5 photos: 300-450 KB
- 10-minute video call: 40 MB
- 1 hour navigation with Google Maps: 5 MB
- Post 5 photos: 20 MB
- Visit 5 websites (restaurant, museum etc.): 2 MB
If your mobile phone usage during the holidays is similar, then your daily data consumption is: approx. 70 MB.
That would mean 1 GB (1000 MB) is enough for about 14 days.
Telephony abroad
Make sure that you always add the country code when dialling the phone number, otherwise the call cannot be made. Only emergency numbers work without a country code.
How to save on calls abroad
Do you plan to make frequent calls to Switzerland or within the country you are travelling to? With the standard tariffs, the bill can quickly become very high. At least if you don’t have any call minutes included in your subscription. Buying a local prepaid doesn’t make sense either. Calls in Switzerland are even more expensive that way. But here, too, you can buy additional options from some providers that allow you to make calls abroad at a fair price.
Tips before departure
- If you have previously blocked international calls with your provider – i.e. from Switzerland to abroad – then foreign numbers may also be blocked while you are abroad. So check whether you have this block in place or not.
- Set cost limits for roaming with the provider.
- Update your mobile phone before you leave. That means updating apps and the operating system. Then you can be sure that you won’t have to do this during your holiday with your limited data credit.
- Make sure your phone does not use the mobile network for automatic app updates.
- If you don’t already do this regularly, back up your phone before you leave.
- Check whether the power sockets in your destination country are the same as those in Switzerland. If not, get an adapter for your charger before you leave.
Mobile phone use abroad: Checklist
To avoid any nasty surprises with your mobile phone bill after your holiday, we have put together some tips for you below. You can also find our guide ‘Travelling with your smartphone’ here.
1. check exactly what your subscription rates are
We have already shown you the standard tariffs that apply to the respective providers abroad. However, they may vary depending on the subscription you have. Therefore, before you leave, check which tariffs apply to you.
2. what roaming data do you have included?
Many Swiss mobile phone subscriptions now include at least a small amount of roaming data. Before you look for another solution – for example, a data package or a local prepaid card – check whether and how much roaming is already included in your mobile phone subscription.
3. possibility to pause subscription
Depending on how long your holidays last, it can be worthwhile to pause your mobile phone subscription. Most providers offer the possibility of a subscription break, but this only starts from a length of 2 months.
4. download maps and films in advance
Many apps can also be used offline if you download the content beforehand. For example, consider which maps from Google Maps, which films from Netflix or which songs from Spotify you will need on your trip. Save data by downloading them all before you leave and read our tips on saving data when streaming on the move.
Additional tip: Be careful with WLANs
When abroad, we often fall back on the Wi-Fi of hotels and restaurants if we don’t have any data volume. Although this is very convenient, caution is advised. These Wi-Fi networks are usually not encrypted. What does that mean for you? Another user could read your data and steal it. To prevent this, it’s best to install a good antivirus app. You can find out which apps are available in our app guide. Once you have installed this app for the first time, data is transmitted in encrypted form. This protects you from hackers – at least for the most part. Or you surf with a VPN connection.
Conclusion: Inform yourself well and look out for bargains
With our tips, you are now well equipped for your holidays and don’t have to worry about horrendous bills when you return. Find out about the roaming conditions in your subscription and then choose the right solution for your roaming type.
Click here for the roaming fact check.
Find the best deals for subscriptions including roaming on our subscription comparison page. Benefit from over 60% discount and never pay the activation fee. Order your perfect roaming subscription online in 5 minutes!
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