Data flat rates from 40 francs: Swiss pay less than Germans
Data flat rates for mobile devices cost significantly less in Switzerland than in Germany. This is shown in a European comparison by the consumer portal Verivox.
The cheapest offers are available in the Netherlands. In Switzerland, customers can benefit from price differences: The cheapest offer is 40 francs per month.
Germany most expensive - Swiss pay significantly less
In Germany, the first data flat rate without throttling from the Telekom provider costs around 80 euros per month. That's around 94 francs. In Switzerland, mobile customers pay just 59 francs for a comparable offer. This makes Swiss offers significantly cheaper than German and Austrian offers (around 82 francs for 60 gigabytes).
European comparison: Switzerland in midfield, Netherlands cheapest
Across Europe, Switzerland is in the midfield in terms of price. Data flat rates are cheapest in the Netherlands (CHF 41). This is shown by an analysis by the consumer portal Verivox. Consumers in Poland, Italy and Spain pay even less - although there are no real data flat rates here, only tariffs with high inclusive data volumes.
For the comparison, the cheapest offers from network operators in ten European countries were researched. In Switzerland, this comes from Salt with the Plus Swiss tariff. For the sake of comparability, only the amount charged for the data volume was taken into account.
Cheapest flat rate around 40 francs per month
"For consumers, however, it is not the price for the data volume that is decisive, but the effective costs over a longer period of time," says Christoph Biveroni, Country Manager of Verivox Switzerland.
The effective monthly costs in Switzerland are at best CHF 40 for a 24-month term. The Prepaid + Surf Unlimited tariff from Yallo is therefore a further 20 francs cheaper than Plus Swiss from Salt.
Determine your needs and find the best tariff
In addition to the data volume, consumers should also consider other price components when making their purchase decision. "The more precisely I know my needs, the more precisely I can search for the best tariff for me. Ask yourself: How many minutes do I want to call? How many text messages do I want to send?" recommends Biveroni. In some cases, extra costs may be incurred.
The desired contract features can be conveniently entered via online price comparisons and the cheapest tariff is determined automatically. Customers should also make sure that the contract term is as short as possible: "This allows you to react quickly at any time if cheaper options become available on the market," says Biveroni.
About the methodology:
European comparison:
The analysis looked for the cheapest unlimited smartphone flat rate from each network operator - regardless of whether it was a prepaid or fixed-term offer. The analysis takes into account fixed-term cell phone contracts and prepaid offers from all network operators in 10 European countries. The data source is the websites of the network operators.
Offers from secondary brands and service providers were not taken into account. The cheapest offer in the respective country was listed. Where possible, SIM-only tariffs were taken into account - i.e. the conditions for offers where the customer does not purchase a new mobile device. Promotional offers, online discounts, combination offers and combination discounts were not taken into account.
If there is no unlimited Internet flat rate in a country, the tariff with the largest data package was taken into account. The analysis takes into account the following ten European countries: Germany, France, the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Spain. Status of the currency exchange rates: April 4, 2018
Switzerland comparison:
In each case, the effective monthly costs of the cheapest flat rate offers per provider are compared for a term of 24 months (typical duration of a second contract in the mobile communications sector), including any set-up fees, starting credit, etc. Discounts and special offers with limited validity were not taken into account.
The selected tariffs all have a minimum speed of 20 Mbit/s.
In addition to the three major providers Swisscom, Sunrise and Salt, consumers can also compare eight other telecom providers using the Verivox cell phone subscription comparison. This covers around 95 percent of the Swiss market.
