Most of you know that I've been doing a lot of provider-hopping lately.

Right now, I'm with Sunrise (again). I can already say that this won't be the case for long, mainly because the antenna that covers my home constantly cuts out - and each and ever time I have to spend 1-2 days of calling and posting on their facebook page to convince them that it's gone again.

Sunrise's plans have become a lot more expensive lately. However, they still offer unlimited calling to Swiss landlines and Sunrise mobile phones. This helps me save quite a bit. Sunrise is, by far, the most expensive provider for data roaming. It's so insanely expensive that I simply can't use it. Swisscom, on the other hand, now have semi-affordable data roaming plans. Apart from that, Swisscom is really expensive - their 75 fr. plan doesn't include any calls - so while I get away with bills of around 60-70 fr. with Sunrise, I easily pay 30 fr. more for the same thing on Swisscom. And Swisscom's customer service has gotten a lot worse, too. Basically today, if you need support, don't ever go to a Swisscom shop. Phone support is ok, but in the shops, they seem to employ a bunch of morons.

On a network level, the latest Connect network survey shows that both Swisscom and Sunrise have been hit hard with network quality issues, while Orange's investment in their network seems to be paying off. Orange has passed Sunrise as the 2nd best provider in Switzerland and is closing in on Swisscom. The problem here is, that compared to other countries (especially Austria, which the latest Connect report is about), all three Swiss providers have fallen WAY behind. So they're basically offering mediocre services at much higher prices. Sounds typically Swiss, tbh.

Oh, and one last comment: if you're on Cablecom right now, don't write off Orange yet. UPC is one of the candidates for buying Orange. The decision on who Orange is sold to should be communicated within the next couple of weeks. If UPC buys Orange you can bet your butts they'll lower the prices drastically, at least if you get combo-deals.

Peter

I hear UPC isn't in the running to buy orange, the bids where in last week.

As for oranges network, I really can't see how anyone could say there's is better then anyones as they have chronically under invested in it and was there main reason for trying to buy sunrise, maybe its only 'better' because they have such a small customer base?

The latter is the reason, more than likely. They have spent several hundred millions this year for network upgrades, but I don't think many people will be seeing improvements until they've finally deployed their EDGE upgrades (which they're working on, apparently - Valais is now covered with EDGE).

As for UPC: don't know - they used to be interested but as the bidding war isn't public, I have no idea if they're still in the race:

http://futurezone.at/b2b/6359-orange...abgelaufen.php


I guess we'll know by the end of the year - until then, I'll stick with what I have and will then make a decision on whether to switch to Orange or back to Swisscom.

Peter

From my research I gather that there is no better network than Swisscom at this stage. Alas, I did not have to jump ship as Orange fixed the ticket 30 days into the problem after I called and escalated the call to VP of customer retention. Took me only two hours on the phone to get to him but then put out my terms: fix it in 48hrs or let me go (no ETFs). Much to my surprise, he agreed and then to my even greater surprise, fixed the issue + offered both my wife and I chf100 each off our bills.

I am very much hoping that someone/anyone with an idea to invest and improve will buy Orange soon. Their data network is beyond congested due to affordable plans. There is a reason why similar plan with Swisscom is double the price - to maintain quality.

BTW, adopted the rule of sending the termination letter after signing - this is taking away the silent power of service providers. Love it!

The problem with Orange is that their network isn't actually congested - it simply doesn't have EDGE get, making is slow as heck. Their 3G network is en par with Swisscom's in terms of maximum throughput. Swisscom's network is massively congested, however. During rush hour and on trains, Swisscom is close to unusable. Even Sunrise is better there.

Apparently you heard right (wherever you heard that :-) -

http://www.20min.ch/finance/news/sto...hweiz-12904077

the worst possible outcome, IMO. Everybody was hoping for some foreign provider, or at least Cablecom to buy the company and create additional competition and a better network. Alas - that's not going to happen now.
Some investment-sharks bought the thing, will milk it as long as possible and then dump it.

Peter