 Poster: A snowHead
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Anyone got any recommendations for SIM cards for Switzerland? My requirements are 1-2Gb data for 1 week, probably don't require any calling.
Just came back from France and I got the Lebara one for £5 which came with 3Gb, great value. Unfortunately it doesn't cover Switzerland though 
Ideally something that can be organised before the trip so avoid faffing around once there.
Thanks!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I use this:
Three Mobile Pay As You Go Mobile Broadband 24 GB data SIM https://amzn.eu/d/6wvWzFB
Lasts 24 months. It's also really useful in the UK when you don't have reception on your normal SIM, assuming you're not on Three already. Android even has menu shortcut to quickly swap data SIMs in dual SIM phones.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@viciousvulture, I was adamant Lebara covered CH, but just looking, seems like it doesn't!
I'm going to need to move elsewhere then, as i'm in CH for 5 weeks in March/April.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@under a new name, just checking over the Airbnb bookings I have, and seems both apartments have WiFi, so might just make do without using my phone during the day, as i'll be skiing anyway. See how it goes, if not the 3GB sim with Lebara CH might be an option.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I have a uk lebara sim, £5 per month. Works fine in France but unfortunately no free roaming in Switzerland. It did work in Ch for a couple of months last summer but seems to have changed since. I do add a manual top up in case of emergencies but is eye wateringly expensive. Cost me 49p to receive one text at Geneva airport the other day.
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I've got a Lyca SIM, arrived yesterday and couldn't work out why I couldn't even receive texts when I first got here. I guess that might be why £1 has disappeared from the £5 credit I topped up yesterday.
Still, considering I'm paying them £0.01 per month for the first 6 months (offer via Money Saving Expert), I don't really have grounds to complain.
It's just a bit odd because the 2GB of free roaming data does seem to be working!
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I’ve used a giffgaff SIM there before but the deals change (as they did with Lebara) just find and get an Prepaid SIM that covers your requirements at the best cost. They’ll all much of a muchness, except don’t buy a 3 SIM from their Amazon “deals”, or you will discover that they have the worst customer service ever.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I did have a look at the Swiss Lebara, certainly a premium product! 3Gb for 4 weeks / 19.90 CHF
There were also Lebara stands in Geneva Airport, presumably selling the same type of stuff.
What about airalo?
https://www.airalo.com/switzerland-esim
It's an eSIM, not sure what the ramifications are. But they offer 1Gb for 7 days for $4.50, seems pretty good to me
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I am using an Orange Travel SIM, which works in Austria and CH. I am pleased with it.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@viciousvulture, a UK Tesco SIM (O2 is the carrier) includes Switzerland in their Europe wide roaming - we pay £10 per month for 10GB and Swiss or French data just comes out of our monthly UK allowance.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| oui4ski wrote: |
| @viciousvulture, a UK Tesco SIM (O2 is the carrier) includes Switzerland in their Europe wide roaming - we pay £10 per month for 10GB and Swiss or French data just comes out of our monthly UK allowance. |
That's a great deal. I pay £6 a month for Three which gives a measly 1Gb and no Europe roaming.
So you don't pay any roaming charges, just £10 a month?!
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@oui4ski, you had me excited until I checked Tesco sim only deals. They all say free roaming only until late spring 2023. With 12 and 24 month contract.
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You know it makes sense.
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| viciousvulture wrote: |
I did have a look at the Swiss Lebara, certainly a premium product! 3Gb for 4 weeks / 19.90 CHF
There were also Lebara stands in Geneva Airport, presumably selling the same type of stuff.
What about airalo?
https://www.airalo.com/switzerland-esim
It's an eSIM, not sure what the ramifications are. But they offer 1Gb for 7 days for $4.50, seems pretty good to me |
After looking further, eSim is only available on newer phones. I'lll need a physical SIM...
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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O2 do some good deals on rolling 30 day PAYG SIMS which include roaming.
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Poster: A snowHead
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@pateman99, Interesting - they haven't yet told us that our EU + Switzerland roaming will end in late spring!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Smarty do 24Gb for £8 a month on a rolling 1 month contract, so you could stop it straight after your hols.
You can have up to 12Gb of your 24Gb monthly allowance as roaming.
PM me if you want a link and we each make £10 extra out of it
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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My normal 3 sim still allows free roaming in most countries including France and CH, they have introduced a "fair use" policy that limits you to 12gb whilst away per month I think 0.03p per mb after the 12g is gone.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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We got a Talkmobile rolling 30 day contract that had 30GB data and free roaming for less than £4 earlier this year.
Cancelled when we got home and had a £1.30 refund from the unused days on the contract.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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I have Lebara on my mobile, their website says both that Switzerland is and isn't covered dso I turned it off as we travelled through last week.
My wife has a Popit sim and we also have one in a mifi, both have worked all the way to Italy. With Popit you can use ALL your data allowance abroad including Switzerland. Hers is 1Gb for £8pm but we are often in Switzerland. The one in the mifi is 100Gb for £25pm but you can put it into dormant mode for 80p when not required.
Uses EE in UK. Had a good speed in Switzerland but Germany seemed a bit variable.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| eblunt wrote: |
Smarty do 24Gb for £8 a month on a rolling 1 month contract, so you could stop it straight after your hols.
You can have up to 12Gb of your 24Gb monthly allowance as roaming.
PM me if you want a link and we each make £10 extra out of it |
Switzerland not included in their EU roaming
https://smarty.co.uk/roaming/europe/
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| alasdair.graham wrote: |
| My normal 3 sim still allows free roaming in most countries including France and CH, they have introduced a "fair use" policy that limits you to 12gb whilst away per month I think 0.03p per mb after the 12g is gone. |
I'm with 3 as well, but your plan must've started before 1Oct21. Contracts after this point don't include roaming.
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Switzerland is included in EEs Europe zone so covered by their PAYG plans.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| ster wrote: |
| Switzerland is included in EEs Europe zone so covered by their PAYG plans. |
Shame they're so expensive, particularly now I can't get staff discount!
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We’ve BT family SIM, ok it’s a 12 month contract, but a discount as we’ve BT broadband.
Less than 10 a month, 40GB per SIM. Drawbacks, no pooling of allowance or rollover.
Chosen as summer we holiday on Swiss-EU border so didn’t want the risk running up huge bills. Winter we ski Switzerland.
Once you’re signed up with BT, I found customer service great and they’ll try to match deals etc to keep you signed up.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Is there any good option for keeping an active Suisse sim and only putting on $ when you need it? I tend to go to Switzerland several times a year, sometimes as a last-minute long weekend. Last trip I got a Sunrise sim, which does stay active as long as you don't go 1 year without any use, however I just noticed that I can not top it up/add a new plan for anything online (they only accept Swiss-only payment app or non US/UK/Japan credit cards. No bank cards, no paypal, nada). I'm getting tired of having to find a shop every time I blast down for a few days...
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Satchboogie wrote: |
| Is there any good option for keeping an active Suisse sim and only putting on $ when you need it? I tend to go to Switzerland several times a year, sometimes as a last-minute long weekend. Last trip I got a Sunrise sim, which does stay active as long as you don't go 1 year without any use, however I just noticed that I can not top it up/add a new plan for anything online (they only accept Swiss-only payment app or non US/UK/Japan credit cards. No bank cards, no paypal, nada). I'm getting tired of having to find a shop every time I blast down for a few days... |
Swisscom will accept top-ups from any Visa / Mastercard etc.
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What is it with Swiss charges, anyone know? My contract used to cover them without problem, but recently I transited through Zurich, made the mistake of looking at my phone a couple of times, and suddenly got a message that I'd breached my €50 limit. Plus a few of the comments above - why has Switzerland changed?
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You know it makes sense.
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I'm with Virgin mobile. My PAYG monthly SIM contract covers me for the EU, but not Switzerland. Quite inconvenient, so when I'm in Switzerland I try to restrict myself to just using WiFi.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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my sky sim is £2 a day for data and UK calls. Swiss numbers are £1.70 per min ! ouch BA are getting a bill for £85. (EU is only 55p / min)
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Poster: A snowHead
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| mikeg2 wrote: |
| my sky sim is £2 a day for data and UK calls. Swiss numbers are £1.70 per min ! ouch BA are getting a bill for £85. (EU is only 55p / min) |
Can you clarify why BA are getting the bill?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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they lost my luggage and had to chase the airport and courier company.
bag arrived at hotel after I got home and has now been returned, thankfully
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@mikeg2, thanks, good luck with your claim against BA for the phone bill. Let us know if they do cough up, I suspect you may have a bit of a struggle....
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| jebroni3_16 wrote: |
I've got a Lyca SIM, arrived yesterday and couldn't work out why I couldn't even receive texts when I first got here. I guess that might be why £1 has disappeared from the £5 credit I topped up yesterday.
Still, considering I'm paying them £0.01 per month for the first 6 months (offer via Money Saving Expert), I don't really have grounds to complain.
It's just a bit odd because the 2GB of free roaming data does seem to be working! |
Gearing up for my first Magic Pass trip of the season and started looking into SIM cards again. Had it in my head that Lyca used to include Switzerland in the data roaming (as well as the international calling), but having consulted my old bills, I remembered they didn't. So, whilst it did "seem to be working", it wasn't: my £5 additional credit disappeared in seconds 
I think I'm going to start this winter with a 1GB SIM Only plan from spusu for £2.90 per month. Unlimited minutes and SMS in the UK, of which roaming in the EU & Switzerland 1 GB, 500 Minutes + 500 SMS, international calls from the UK to EU countries only 500 Minutes.
Never used them before and reviews aren't the best, but I'm willing to give it a try.
Failing that, best offer I can see is the 6GB SIM Only plan from Talk Mobile for £5.95 per month where you can use your UK allowance of minutes, texts and data, subject to 5GB fair use policy. So will grab one of those if the dummy run falls flat on its back bottom!
Just to give my own personal update to this:
I got the Spusu SIM before Christmas and after some slight issues with the porting (which appeared to be from the network I was departing and were swiftly resolved when I was able to provide Spusu with details of specific times and numbers where calls and texts had failed to be received), it appears to be working fine. So much so that I've now ported my main number to that SIM. I am using this in my old school Nokia for calls and texts, the only downside being I can no longer get delivery reports for the latter.
However, I did also get a SIM from Talkmobile (without any porting involved) for my smartphone and have been using that for the data, calls and texts, with 5GB of my 50GB monthly allowance being eligible for roaming even in Switzerland. Zero problems with that either.
Both providers have apps which appear to a decent job of tracking usage etc.
Last edited by Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do. on Tue 14-01-25 11:36; edited 1 time in total
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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I've been looking for a SIM for a trip to Japan and am probably going to go with an eSIM from Airalo rather than physical. From what I can tell it's a fairly good option as you can download the app and pick the SIM for whichever country you're in. Mostly it's data only (which should be all I need) but there is a voice option too.
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@SnoodyMcFlude, agreed, eSIM is the best option. You can select whether to use your physical SIM or eSIM for each of the services, phone, messages, data so you can keep your UK phone number active while using data from the eSIM.
I did this recently in Bali and it worked great. I bought the eSIM via Revolut as they make the install/config process really simple, but it's actually provided by 1GLOBAL.
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@JohnS4, ooh, hadn't realised Revolut do it, will have a look. Some of them seem to not completely cut you off too, so I can get a 10gb allowance and if I go over that it'll just mean that the speed is throttled back to only allow basic browsing.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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My partner has one of these eSIMs: https://digitalrepublic.ch/en/ Unlimited 5G data/calls/SMS 18CHF/month (cancellable). He says you need to allow time and good light to do the digital ID verification, but it was really easy and fully automated. Turn off your original SIM line initially when you cross the border, to activate the eSIM.
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Just double check your phone can really support eSIM - allegedly mine does (according to the specs (Galaxy S23 FE)) but when I attempted to install it, it totally screwed up and wouldn't recognise the existing physical UK SIM so I had to factory reset the phone. When I spoke to someone at Samsung, they then helpfully told me the UK version of my phone doesn't support it...?!?!
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FAQ
