All facts on roaming by Swiss telecom providers
Are you going on holiday and planning to use your mobile phone abroad? Then be prepared for additional costs, because roaming data from Swiss providers can be quite expensive. But don’t worry, here’s everything you need to know about roaming! If you want to know what roaming options you have for your holidays, check out our Roaming Guide!
What is roaming?
International roaming means the use of a SIM card abroad. As a customer of a Swiss telecommunications provider, this allows you to use your device abroad. You can make phone calls, send and receive text messages and surf the internet. But be careful: Depending on your subscription and usage, your mobile phone bill can be surprisingly high at the end of the month. To avoid this, it is also important to know the roaming regulations of the Swiss telecom providers.
Here’s what you need to watch out for when roaming
A new Telecommunications Act has been in force in Switzerland since summer 2021. This also includes new regulations for roaming abroad. The following points therefore now apply:
1. Data packages are valid for 12 months
If you buy a roaming package for your holiday abroad from the telecom providers, these must be valid for 12 months from summer 2021. So if you buy a data package of 1 GB for your summer holidays but only use 500 MB, you can also use the rest for your Christmas holidays, for example.
2. Cost limit
Article 12 of the new Swiss Telecommunications Act gives the Federal Council the competence to introduce “regulations to avoid disproportionately high retail tariffs”. As a result, it was decided that providers must introduce cost caps from 1 July 2021. You can also choose these yourself from the providers. This way you can make sure that you don’t get a nasty bill surprise after your holidays. The cost cap can be adjusted at any time.
3. Billing to the second when calling abroad
Swiss providers must now charge by the second for calls made abroad. The same applies to surfing: Here, providers must bill exactly to the kilobyte. In general, they may only round up to the nearest 10 centimes. So you no longer have to worry that a short call will cost you a fortune.
4. Roaming regulations of the providers transparently on the website
Every telecom provider must communicate its roaming conditions to its customers in a simple, understandable and transparent way. You should be able to find this information easily on your provider’s website. Or: Look on alao at the roaming section of the respective provider. Here they must show costs and advertise the possibility of setting a cost cap or blocking roaming altogether.
Standard tariffs of the individual providers
If your mobile phone subscription does not include roaming data, different prices apply for calls and internet use once you have crossed the national border. In the following table, you will find the standard tariffs of the Swiss providers for mobile phone use abroad. However, these may vary depending on your mobile phone subscription. To be on the safe side, check which tariffs apply to you.
Roaming in the EU
| Provider | Call within EU country | Surfing within EU country |
| UPC | 0.30/min | 0.30/MB |
| Sunrise | 2.- / min | 1.- / MB |
| Salt | 1.99/min | 2.95/MB |
| Swisscom | 0.60/min | Data packages from CHF 14.90/ 1 GB |
| Yallo | 1.-/ min. | CHF 2.-/ MB |
| Wingo | 0.60/min | Data package from CHF 9.90/500 MB |
Mobile subscription with roaming at great prices?
At alao you get over 60% off mobile subscriptions from the most popular providers and never pay the activation fee! On our subscription comparison page, you can find your perfect roaming subscription and sign up online in 5 minutes!
If you still have questions about the roaming rules of the Swiss providers, contact us!
📞 043 588 25 25
✉ support@alao.ch
