UPC Subscription | Internet, TV & Mobile Phones
UPC Switzerland operates the largest cable network in the Swiss Confederation, but also offers mobile subscriptions, Internet, TV and a fixed-line telephone connection.
Here we have put together the various UPC subscriptions, i.e. UPC Mobile, UPC Internet, UPC TV and UPC Phone subscriptions, and also provide some additional information about the history of UPC, among other things.
Overview
UPC TV – Television with the UPC TV Box
UPC Fixed-line telephone (Phone)
Which is better, UPC or Swisscom?
Basics about UPC
You have been asking yourself for a long time, what does UPC actually mean? We are now solving the mystery. UPC stands for United Pan-Europe Communications (formerly United Philips Cable) and is a subsidiary of the telecommunications group Liberty Global. Now you know what UPC means.
UPC Switzerland is a company that offers mobile subscriptions, Internet and TV subscriptions and fixed network connections and, according to its own statements, has customers in over two million households. More than 1500 employees are said to work for the company.
History of UPC Switzerland
UPC Schweiz GmbH has been part of the Liberty Global Group, which has its headquarters in London, since 2005. If you follow the history of UPC Switzerland back to its origins, you will come across the company Rediffusion, which was founded in Switzerland in 1931 and made it possible to listen to the radio by means of wire broadcasting.
What many people are probably more familiar with is the name Cablecom. This company was founded in 1994 and bought Rediffusion in 1996. In 2005 Cablecom was acquired by Liberty Global. In 2011 the company name was changed to UPC Cablecom. In 2016 UPC Cablecom was then renamed UPC.
Actually, Sunrise wanted to take over UPC Schweiz GmbH, but this did not succeed. The Competition Commission (Weko) had approved the takeover in 2019. But the company Freenet, a major shareholder of Sunrise, did not agree to the takeover. And who will buy UPC Switzerland now? Nothing is known.
UPC Mobile Subscriptions
If you are looking for a UPC Mobile subscription, you can choose between different subscriptions. There is the “Mobile Unlimited Swiss”, the “Mobile Unlimited Europe”, the “Mobile Flex Swiss” and the “Mobile Flex Europe”.
It is possible to combine these subscriptions with an Internet subscription, which makes them cheaper in the long run. The “Mobile Unlimited Swiss” is also cheaper in the short term if you already have a UPC Internet subscription.
If you choose subscriptions without UPC Internet, the price depends on how long the subscription lasts. The prices for the first 12 months are lower.
| UPC Internet combination | without Internet, first 12 months | Kwithout internet, after 12 months | |
| Mobile Unlimited Swiss | CHF 29.-/ monthly | CHF 39.-/ monthly | CHF 69.-/ monthly |
| Mobile Unlimited Europe | CHF 39.-/ monthly | CHF 39.-/ monthly | CHF 79.-/ monthly |
| Mobile Flex Swiss | CHF 19.-/ monthly | CHF 19.-/ monthly | CHF 29.-/ monthly |
| Mobile Flex Europe | CHF 29.-/ monthly | CHF 29.-/ monthly | CHF 39.-/ monthly |
The UPC subscription “Mobile Unlimited Swiss” includes unlimited surfing in Switzerland and unlimited calls and SMS (both within Switzerland). With a minimum contract duration of 12 months, the SIM card is free of charge and in the first 12 months you pay CHF 39 per month. After the first 12 months, the price increases to CHF 69 per month. If you are already a customer with a UPC Internet subscription, you will permanently receive a reduced price of CHF 29 per month.
With the UPC subscription “Mobile Unlimited Europe”, you can surf the Internet within Switzerland without limitation and have a data volume of 10 gigabytes (GB) for surfing the Internet within Europe (EU countries). Anyone who uses more than the 10 GB must pay extra for the additional consumption. In addition, the “Unlimited Europe” tariff allows unlimited calls and unlimited sending of SMS messages, whereby roaming here also extends to Norway, for example, so not one to one to the EU.
With the UPC subscription “Mobile Unlimited Europe” the SIM card is also free of charge if you choose a minimum contract period of 12 months. In the first 12 months you pay CHF 39 per month. After these 12 months the price increases to CHF 79 per month. For UPC Internet customers the price is permanently only CHF 39 per month.
There are also the UPC Mobile subscriptions “Mobile Flex Swiss” and “Mobile Flex Europe”. With the UPC subscription “Mobile Flex Swiss” you pay CHF 19 per month and receive a data volume of 2 GB for surfing the Internet within Switzerland. After 12 months you pay CHF 29 per month, unless you already use a UPC Internet subscription. In the latter case, the monthly fee remains CHF 19.
If you need a higher data volume than 2 GB with “Mobile Flex Swiss”, you can add 1 GB data packages, each of which costs CHF 10; however, this only works up to a maximum of CHF 59. Calls and SMS are unlimited within Switzerland with the “Flex Swiss” subscription. If you choose the minimum contract period of 12 months, the SIM card is free of charge, otherwise you have to pay CHF 49.
The UPC subscription “Mobile Flex Europe” works similarly to “Mobile Flex Swiss”, except that the data volume of 2 GB can be used both within Switzerland and within the EU. Calls and SMS are also unlimited within Europe with the “Flex Europe” subscription, although Europe is not equated one-to-one with the EU countries here.
What makes the “Mobile Flex Swiss” subscription different from the “Mobile Flex Europe” subscription is the price of CHF 29, which remains the same for Internet customers in the long term and increases to CHF 39 for other customers after 12 months. The maximum amount up to which the data volume can be increased for CHF 10 per 1 GB is CHF 69.
Which UPC subscription fits best depends on your personal needs. On alao you can compare the UPC mobile subscriptions in relation to other providers.
UPC Internet subscriptions
There are three UPC Internet tariffs to choose from, with the price of Internet subscriptions varying according to the level of speed:
– 1 Gbit/s (download speed), 100 Mbit/s (upload speed): CHF 89
– 300 Mbit/s (download speed), 30 Mbit/s (upload speed): CHF 69
– 100 Mbit/s (download speed), 10 Mbit/s (upload speed): CHF 49
There is also a one-off activation fee of CHF 99, which can be waived if the subscription is taken out online.
The last two UPC Internet subscriptions in the list include the so-called UPC Connect Box, and the 1 Gbit/s subscription includes the new Giga Connect Box.
The UPC Connect Box is a voice gateway that enables VoIP Internet telephony, among other things. But the UPC Connect Box can do even more. It basically combines several devices in one and offers the following functions:
– Cable modem
– Wireless access point (WLAN, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac)
– Base-T connections (Ethernet 10/100/1000)
– VoIP Internet telephony
– Firewall
The UPC Giga Connect Box is also a multi-functional device and thus not only contains a cable router (WLAN, 2.4 GHz/ 5 GHz), but also the following:
– 4 Ethernet ports (1 Gbit/s)
– Wireless access point (WLAN, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac)
– 2 separate telephone connections possible
– WPA2 encryption
– Firewall
– DHCP server
If you want to check the speed of your internet connection, UPC recommends to do a speed test. There is no separate UPC speed test. Instead, UPC refers to a speedtest app for the desktop, which can be downloaded from the cnlab website.
The cnlab site also offers speed tests for Android devices, iOS devices and the browser.
UPC TV – Watch TV with the UPC TV Box
Together with UPC Internet you can also book UPC TV. Normally this costs CHF 30 extra per month. In return you get the UPC TV box, which allows you to receive more than 240 channels.
In the UPC TV area there is a special sports offer called UPC MySports. There are two tariff options: UPC MySports One and UPC MySports Pro.
MySports One is already included in the so-called Happy Home subscription (combination offer of TV, Internet and phone). If you only have an Internet or mobile subscription, you have to pay an additional CHF 5 per month for MySports One. In return, you get, among other things, a Swiss League game once a week and three National League games a week. UPC also promises to show at least one national league game (1st or 2nd division) from Sky every week. Live events, such as basketball and martial arts, will also be shown. Furthermore you can watch Red Bull events.
For CHF 25 per month, MySports Pro gives you an even more extensive range of sports on UPC TV, including all National League matches, 572 Bundesliga matches, with all games from the 2nd Bundesliga included.
Previously, TV customers could use Horizon Go with UPC TV. With this TV app, it was possible to watch live programs from various TV stations on mobile devices. In the meantime, the Horizon Go app has been renamed to UPC TV App, but a new app had to be provided.
To use the UPC TV app you need a UPC mobile subscription, a UPC Internet subscription or a UPC TV subscription. Which content you can access in the UPC TV app depends on the type of UPC subscription you have.
UPC fixed network telephone (Phone)
With regard to fixed-line telephony, you can choose between four different options when ordering a package from UPC: No Phone, Phone, Phone CH and Phone International.
With the No Phone option, you do not have the option of using a fixed line. This option does not incur any additional basic charges.
However, the UPC Phone option does not incur any additional basic charges either. For the Phone CH option, however, you have to pay an additional CHF 10 per month and for the Phone International option CHF 25 per month.
The following table lists, among other things, the minute prices that apply for a call with the respective options.
| Phone International | Phone CH | Phone | No Phone | |
| Monthly basic fee | CHF 25.- | CHF 10.- | x | x |
| Fixed network within Switzerland | free | free | CHF 0.08/ minute | x |
| UPC mobile network | free | free | free | x |
| Other mobile networks within Switzerland | free | free | CHF 0.40/ minute | x |
| Calls to landlines abroad (tariff zone 1) | free | CHF 0.15/ minute | CHF 0.15/ minute | x |
| Fee for establishing a connection for international calls (does not apply to free calls) | CHF 0.12 | CHF 0.12 | CHF 0.12 | x |
The countries in tariff zone 1 include Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Great Britain, Spain, Greece, Portugal, USA, Canada and Australia, among many others. Anyone calling the mobile phone network in tariff zone 1 (apart from those in Canada and the USA) or calling international business numbers must pay a surcharge of 40 cents per minute.
Calls to countries in tariff zone 2 (for example Bulgaria, Romania, Brazil, Russian Federation) are considerably more expensive at CHF 0.60 per minute. The surcharge for business numbers is also 40 cents per minute; there is no surcharge for calls to mobile networks. For calls to tariff zone 3 (other countries), the price per minute is CHF 1.20; there is no surcharge for calls to the mobile network.
UPC Webmail
At UPC you can also set up an e-mail account. The UPC webmail account allows 5 different email addresses, with UPC providing 5 GB of disk space for each of these addresses.
When using UPC mail, attachments with a maximum size of 20 MB can be sent. If you want to send larger attachments, you can use the drive function.
UPC Customer Service
The UPC customer service (support) can be reached on 0800 66 88 66, Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
If you only want to view your invoices, simply log in to My UPC, i.e. to your customer account. In the UPC customer portal, you have to enter your e-mail address and password.
Which is better, UPC or Swisscom?
Many people ask themselves: What is better, UPC or Swisscom? Or is Salt, Sunrise or another mobile phone provider in Switzerland better? It is not possible to say which provider is best in general. Mobile subscriptions, Internet and TV offers as well as fixed network tariffs are sometimes very different. Since not everyone has the same needs, it depends on the offer in question what fits best.
FAQ
Here we answer the frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding UPC Switzerland:
Which UPC contact options are available?
You can contact UPC by telephone support, by e-mail, by form or by post. To contact UPC by telephone, you must dial 0800 66 88 66 (UPC telephone support can be reached: Mon-Fri 8-19, Sat 9-13). UPC’s e-mail address is: impressum@upc.ch and the postal address is: UPC Schweiz GmbH, Postfach 8021, Zurich, Switzerland.
UPC: How fast is my Internet?
You cannot use a UPC speed test to test the speed of your Internet. Instead, you can use geschwindigkeit.ch to test the speed of your current subscription, and then find out which is the best internet provider in Switzerland to fulfill your needs.
Which channels are on the UPC channel list for TV?
As far as the UPC channel list is concerned, there are various lists, including those with additional offers. Here is an overview on all channels offered by UPC.
Cancel UPC: How does that work?
Anyone who would like to cancel their subscription or other contract with UPC can either call the UPC hotline on +41 (0) 800 900 210, request a call or fill out a form on the UPC website. It is also possible to terminate the contract in writing by mail.
UPC notice of termination: Send to which address?
Although UPC does not explicitly state on its website to which address you have to send yowur notice of termination, it is possible to send it to the following address However, the general terms and conditions of business specify the possibility of giving notice of termination in writing. The address of UPC is: UPC Schweiz GmbH, P.O. Box 8021, Zurich, Switzerland.
UPC notice period: How long before I have to give notice?
The best way to find out when you have to send the UPC cancellation notice is to refer to the respective contract or subscription conditions. If you are unsure about the cancellation period, simply call UPC Customer Service and ask.
