I live in Luzern but recently started working in Zurich. I have an iPhone4 on Orange, and I have been using tethering ("Personal Hotspot") so that I can use my macbook to surf during the 1hr train ride twice a day. This works... but only barely.

While I was pretty happy with internet data speeds in the Luzern area, it seems like Orange is really spotty in Zurich. I often bounce between 3G and GPRS (o) and usually it is very slow. On the train, I get frequent dropouts and no 3G (and not just the tunnels!).

Anyway, I've been considering one of these fancy new Mobile Hotspots from Swisscom (the MF60).

Does anyone have experience with this? Or even better, does anyone who "commutes and computes" have suggestions for laptop internet access on the train? Maybe I'm asking for too much?!

Thanks!

I'd go for this; I've used Swisscom for 3-4 years now and connectivity is good around Zurich. My route for this experience was the S2 from Pfäffikon SZ to Zurich HB - almost no dropouts.

Externalising your HSPA connectivity into this hotspot is also good in that you don't install the crappy Unlimited Data Manager software.

Edit: you can go to Digitec and get a Huawei E5 for 119 and try it with your present SIM too.

I did Zurich Basel for about two years. My experiences with Swisscom weren't all great. Especially during rush-hour, their network falters. Using mobile data in Zurich HB at 5 in the evening is close to impossible. That said, I doubt the others are much better.

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Thanks for the feedback! ... I will give the Swisscom MF60 a try and post how well (or not) it goes!

I tether with my iphone on Swisscom from GVA to Neuchatel, it works fine but not at full capacity, all depends on the antennas / tunnels on the way.

I'll give you feedback on my Huawei E5 - I did not need a contract and doubt whether I'd get HSPA never mind HSPA+ on my journey

I have had Swisscom since last October, and I have experience nothing but dropouts and slow speeds. I have tried 3 different SIM cards, 2 different USB sticks, a full reinstall of my NEW MacBook Pro, along with several hours of discussions with Swissom Data Services in Bern.

Conclusion: not worth tying yourself to a 2-year contract. Seriously!

don't use their software

the hardware thing in this thread will allow you to avoid that

ok, the E5.......

It's a compact little thing and needs only a little adjustment to work on Swisscom - that is the configuration being told to use the APN of gprs.swisscom.ch (or so it seems).

Battery life is around 4 hours - matching the specs. This is fine and you can connect it to a PC USB slot to get more out of it.

Performance is adequate - it actually performs across the technologies better than when my PC had the SIM card installed and was using the Swisscom UDM software to manage the connection.

With 2-3 device connected on my journey through patchy connectivity, it keeps the connection better than expected. That means my Android phone, my Touchpad and my PC can be connected and make use of my generous bandwidth limit

For 115, this is cheaper than taking a new subscription and works as I'd like. No regrets, I recommend it.

U cab buy any hardware, but it won't work reliably above ~130 kmh. At that seed you are changing cell too fast, and the phone cannot maintain a good connectivity. Had the same problem on almost any fast trains. Also had the same issue travelling on autobahns in Germany. Above ~130-140 kmh no internet...

Local trains, strassenbahns ans metros are travelling much slower, so there is no problem at all...

So just a follow-up... I've been using the Swisscom MF60 for a few months now and I like it, it works well. I use it with my iPhone as well via WIFI, it often provides a better connection than Orange can.

For the geeks out there, I posted a short review on my blog, and developed an open-source Ruby gem and command-line utility so you can control it without the web administration interface.

Blog post: http://www.fozworks.com/blog/2012/01...mf60-ruby-gem/
Github (source code): https://github.com/somebox/MF60

It's "Unlimited" but only a small amount of usage is actually at high speed (I forget how much -- but it only took me a day or two to max it out). Once you reach that cap, the connectivity slows down tremendously, to the point that about the only thing it's useful for is checking your e-mail which you could do just as easy on your iPhone.

You have a choice of plans. I chose 5GB/mo (data plus I think) which is actually quite a lot. I can't imagine how you maxed that out in a few days unless you were doing bit torrent I use it a couple hours a day and I have yet to pass 1GB in a month. I have not seen any caps or slowdowns - but its sometimes slow due to 2G on the train. Can you point me to any links about this cap?

I commute and compute between Bern and Zurich and use the Swisscom hotspot. You may lose the connection while passing over the tunnels but it is quite ok...