The Best Internet Plans in Switzerland for 2024

Maybe you do not need an internet plan?

Have you ever wondered if you could get rid of your internet subscription at home?

I am not saying that you do not need access to the web at home. Most people need access to the Internet at home.

But many people have access to unlimited and fast Internet on their smartphones. And smartphone can share their access by becoming a WiFI hotspot. This feature is a feature that every recent smartphone has (at least in the last five years).

Like this, you can connect any other appliances through your smartphone. This tip will, of course, only work if you have unlimited access from your phone. You should avoid doing that if your access is limited to some bandwidth.

If you do not use the Internet on your other appliances a lot, this could be a great option. And, of course, this will only work once your smartphone is at home. Some people, like me, have servers at home that require online access all day. In that case, you will need a proper internet connection.

Using your smartphone as a hotspot is not much different than the WiFI access from your web provider. That way, you can save a lot of money since you only have to pay for your phone plan, not your internet subscription.

For more information on phone plans, find out about the best phone subscriptions in Switzerland.

Drop the landline phone

To save money on your subscription, you can drop the support for a landline phone. Many subscriptions still include a home-line phone.

The chances are that you have a mobile phone yourself. And the chances are that you do not even use your landline. Do you need both?

You will not save much money by doing so, maybe 5 CHF or 10 CHF a month. But this is much better than paying for something you do not need.

Be careful with activation costs.

You must be cautious about activation costs when you change your internet subscription.

Many providers will charge you some amount of money to change their plans. Several providers will not charge you anymore. But for those that charge you, you will pay anything between 50 CHF and 100 CHF for the first year. Paying that can make a difference in your budget if you do not account for it.

Make sure you consider this activation fee when you choose a new subscription.

Be careful with one-year offers

If you change to a new internet provider, you will ideally keep the same plan for several years. Therefore, you need to consider long-term savings when you compare different subscriptions.

For this, you should be careful about offers that offer a discount in the first year. Some providers will offer up to 50% in the first year. But then, after that, they can be costly.

So, when you compare different offers, you should only consider the monthly costs, excluding the first-year offer. If you only need a plan for one or two years, it may be worth considering one-year offers. But otherwise, be careful about them.

Do not fall for speed

Over the last decade, internet speed has increased very significantly. These days, it is straightforward to get a connection of 100Mbps. And with fiber optic, you can get a much faster connection.

But have you ever wondered whether you need these speeds? Likely, you do not need very fast internet speed.

Of course, providers and sellers will tell you that a higher speed is always better. But past a certain point, this is not true anymore. If you browse the Internet, you will not see any difference between 50Mbps and 500Mbps.

I lived with 50Mbps for two years. And I have had zero problems. And I consider myself a heavy user. I watch and download videos a lot. And I have five computers at home. Most individuals will never need anything faster than 50Mbps. Then, Swisscom upgraded us freely to 100Mbps, and we have mostly not seen any difference.

There could be some exceptions:

• If you are running a home business with several machines that need excellent access. In that case, you may need faster access. But this may not even be the case.
• If you are streaming in very high quality. Here, I am not talking about 1080p HD youtube. For this, 50Mbps would be more than enough. But if you are streaming 4K videos, it may not be enough anymore.
• If you need to download large assets over the web. For instance, you may receive raw videos if you are editing videos. These files can be huge. A higher speed will be necessary if you do not want to wait too long.

Ultimately, deciding which speed you want is only up to you. You can choose between different subscriptions once you know how much you want.

If your Internet is too fast for your needs, you could change to a slower speed and save some money every month!

And be careful about high-speed offers. With fibers, operators have started offering 10Gbps Internet. The problem with these offers is that the bandwidth is shared with many people (not only your household). So, if you have many neighbors, you cannot get the full bandwidth. And sometimes, even without neighbors, operators cannot reach that speed.

Furthermore, even if you get 10Gbps Internet, the link up to the websites is unlikely 10G. If there is a  single 1G link between you and the website you use, you have already lost 90% of your speed. High-Speed Fiber Internet is mostly marketing.

Finally, you need to know how much speed is available at home. Providers generally have a tool to let you know the speed available at your home address.

At our home, I can get access to up to 475Mbps. This speed is almost ten times more than what I am using. And this is also significantly more than a few years. Operators have been increasing their capacity a lot these last few years.

So pay only for a speed you can reach in your home.

Internet Plans

We will compare the available plans for different internet speeds.

Note that some of these offers will have activation fees. But these fees do not matter in the long term.

4G Routers

Since the improvements in the mobile network, we have another option for the Internet: 4G routers.

Usually, you get your router connected to the Internet through the cable or fiber from your internet provider. But with a 4G router, you get Internet directly from the mobile Internet (4G or 5G). In that case, you get a SIM card into your router, which then acts as a WiFi router for all your devices.

For that, you first need a router with a SIM card. You can get tons of routers on Galaxus. You will have to browse because there are many options with different speeds and SIM cards and options.

Once you get your router, you will also need a mobile internet plan. In this case, you only need Internet in your plan, nothing else. Some very cheap offers are available, but you will need to look for the proper speed and price again.

Fortunately, there are also some complete offers. For instance, Twifi offers a 4G or 5G router with a good speed, starting at 29 CHF monthly.

One advantage of that system is that you often get no contract duration with some of these plans. This can be practical if you only need Internet for a few months. Another advantage is that you could take your router with you on vacation.

One disadvantage would be that you get higher latency in these plans than with cable internet. But that only matters if you are going to play video games (or other activities that need low latency).

Wait for special offers

Another thing you can do to save money on your internet plan is to wait for special offers.

For instance, for its 2019 anniversary, Qoqa has run several attractive offers for Internet and phone subscriptions. You could get a 200Mbps Sunrise subscription for 29 CHF per month. This offer is quite good.

If you follow Qoqa, they may rerun this offer. Or you may find other offers with other providers.

If you need to change your internet subscription quickly, you will not have time to wait for an offer. But even if you have a good subscription, it is always good to keep track of these offers to save money in the future.

Comparators for Internet subscriptions

To search for more profiles, here are three comparators for Internet subscriptions in Switzerland.

The first good one I have found is the Internet comparator from moneyland. It is complete and can even do some searches based on your address. You can combine it with a Television subscription and/or a landline phone.

The other good one is the Internet plans comparator from besteabos. It is simpler than moneyland, and you will easily find the best plan for the most common profiles. However, there are fewer results.

The final one I would mention is internet-offer.ch. They are complete, available in English, and have Internet and mobile internet deals.

Sometimes cheaper is not better

For many people, their home internet is essential. I am one of them. I have several servers running all the time at home. And I rely on a good internet connection for my job and most of my hobbies. Therefore, for me, always having a good internet connection at home is essential.

For this, I have been using Swisscom for almost ten years. And I have never had any issues with it. I am using the 65 CHF per month plan with 100Mbps. I plan to continue on that plan. I could save about 30 CHF per month by changing. But I much prefer the quality of Swisscom over some small savings.

If you are not too worried about it, you can save money by avoiding Swisscom. But staying with them may be very interesting if you want something reliable.

Again, I am using the Internet all day, and so is my wife, and 100Mbps is more than enough. We have used 50Mbps for several years before that without any issues.

Conclusion

As we saw, there are many possible options for Internet plans in Switzerland. Which internet plan you will choose will depend on the speed you need. Be careful that you do not fall into the trap of speed. Most people will never need more than 50Mbps.

Overall, I would recommend testing the iWay Internet Economy DSL 100 offer. You will get 100Mbps for only 39 CH per month. This offer looks excellent and at a very reasonable price.

If you pay a significant amount for your Internet subscription each month, you may want to change your subscription and save money each month! Recurring expenses are an excellent way to reduce your budget. You will save money each month for years by doing the change once.

One thing you may have never thought of is to lower your internet speed. The chances are high that you do not need a high connection speed.

Another thing you can do is cancel your phone line if you are paying for one and not using it. And maybe you can even cancel your TV subscription if you do not use it much.

After saving money on your internet subscription, you may want to save money on your Television bill.

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