Hey all,

still haven't picked up a mobile, and was wondering if anyone knew if it mattered where my phone is from. For example once i choose a company (feel free to voice your opinion), can I bring them my canadian cell (assuming its the same brand the company uses?) eg- nokia and sunrise?

also if i buy a phone here, can i get the menus in english, or should i just learn the german prompts?

thanks a ton,

is your Canadian phone a GSM phone?

and the phones here *mostly* will have an English UI. The only ones in my mind you need to be careful with is the fully-fledged Windows Mobile devices.

You can only use your phone if it is an unlocked multiband with 900 and/or 1800 GSM.

You can buy a phone here, or buy a phone from a place on the web like ustronics (who I have purchased from in the past and been happy with their stuff, but don't consider this an endorsement). Most major phone manufacturers support multiple languages, mine is in english. Additionally, I use Swisscom, and my voicemail settings are all in english.

I think nearly all phones now have the major languages available as standard, although as mentioned earlier, you might want to check with a Smart phone.

Heya,

If you do have to buy a phone, I would buy a non-branded phone (Swisscom or whatever branded phones will only work for that provider), that way you can easily switch between providers. You can get check at www.digitec.ch for some offers (check checkbox for non-branded products). Your Canadian phone might work, but most likely won't.

Also watch out for contracts. If you do not phone very often and don't need to get MMSs etc. your cheapest bet is to buy a SIM card from Migros mobile (15 CHF) which you then can keep charging up. There is no monthly fee and it is a good option (I am switching from Swisscom to Migros mobile in Jan).

BTW: what happened to your Thunderbunny avatar?

Heather,

You can get a SIM through Migros (perhaps Stephanwolf can elaborate on how) and do sort of a "pre-paid" thing with the cell phone. That is what I do. I load 30 to 50 CHF on the phone and I can go 3 months or more without having to put more on there. I don t know how often you use the phone but you only pay when you call somebody, not when somebody calls you. It works well for me and I pay much less than somebody with a contract. The downsides are 1) no voice mail 2) calls outside of Switzerland are expensive. but then you also don t pay a monthly fee.

Just so you know,
Darkphoenix

I'm looking into only having a cell phone when I'm in switzerland, so thi sis very useful information. I asked my cell phone company in Canada about using my phone and they said no because it's not a GSM phone. However I have another phone which I used when I was in Malta. I have 3 questions:
1. Do you think I will be able to use this phone if I buy a SIM card from Migros?
2. What's the average cost for a basic phone?
3. For the price you mentioned does it include text messaging?

Thanks

Hi,

Check out http://www.m-budget-mobile.ch/ as you can see the phones range from 39 CHF to 90 CHF, SIM cards start at 20 CHF, but you'll probably want to charge them some more.

Textmessages are 10 Rappen (cents) a piece

Your phone should work as long as it has been unlocked (not proprietary), but at these prices you might as well get one from Migros. I got a really cool Samsung from elsewhere, but then again that cost more.

• Kein Abo, keine versteckten Gebühren.
• In der Schweiz Fr. 0.28/Min. in alle Schweizer Netze und nach ganz Europa.
• In Europa Fr. 0.85/Min. nach Europa.
• Fr. 0.10 pro SMS.

that translates into 0.28 CHF/min in CH, 0.85 CHF CHF/min in EU and 0.10 CHF per SMS (textmessage)

hey all,

thanks for the helpful replies, do any of the prepaid plans have a voice-mail option? What if I don't mind signing in for a year or something? Is that a decent way to get a deal on a phone?

word.

ps. if i knew how to rank a post as helpful i would tag several of these.

also, i guess with the forum "rest" my avatar link disappeared, i'll try another classic.

sniff, well now, i think the avatar question now has to move to a different thread....

That is right, Windows Mobile Pocket PCs come with the OS issued on a language ( say German ) and can't be changed nor the OS replaced. I tried to do that and it is not possible for some OEM licensing restriction

On the other hand Windows Mobile Smartphones come with a multilanguage user interface on them ( no spanish though, only english, french, dutch, italian and german on mine )

You can get a years contract with any of the providers and should be able to buy a phone between 1 CHF and whatever if you do so. Couple of things to watch out for with that option:

1. You will have to pay a monthly fee ca. 30 CHF even if you are not using your phone for 1 year

2. If you do not cancel your contract in time, with most providers it will automatically be renewed - this totally sux - so ask them by when you need to cancel in order to not have this happen

I don't like voicemail myself (especially since you are also charged to listen to that crap oftentimes). But it is up to you how important this is to you. You do however receive an SMS if someone tried to call you while your phone was off....

If you have a phone that worked in Malta, that will work in Switzerland too.

All the plans, prepaid or postpaid, have sms service included. Some plans can include a certain amount of free sms. In Europe you pay only to send sms, not to receive them.

Do no get a postpaid subscription unless you want to get a new phone, otherwise you risk to get stuck with a provider for 1 year (or two).

The quality of the network is the same for all the companies, I've got a swisscom subscription for my business phone and a sunrise for my private, I can't see any difference in the network coverage.

You can check prices and conditions: www.sunrise.ch www.swisscom.ch www.orange.ch

Migros and cablecom offer mobile phones as well, and they use the sunrise network.

Oh, and the voice mail is standard and active by default, at least with swisscom and sunrise.

With sunrise it's even a pain in the ass because if you want to deactivate it you need to call their customer service.

That's great. thanks. I was planning to get a phone from Migros and just buy the prepaid cards.

Hi all,

Finally buckled down and went shopping.

I went to migros, spent 70chf and got
a flip phone
sim card
and 15chf credit on a pay-as-you-go account
.38chf/minute to just about anywhere, and .10 to send sms

the guy at the store set it all up, and it was activated almost right away

this has call display, and tells you when you missed a call, i think i can access the internet too, no commitments either

I highly recommend this to anyone who just wants a basic phone (no camera etc) and no fancy services

never choose Sunrise, you will shorten your life because of the excellent customer service. Try Orange, fairly GOOD!

Sorry, but this is absolutely wrong. There are two things you mix up:

1. SIM Lock, yes then the phone is locked to one operator and this is in Switzerland to my knowledge only used for subsidized prepaid phones (for example Migros Mobile)

2. Branding. This only means that the phone has a start-up screen, ringtone, color scheme and bookmarks of the operator you bought it from. I once bought (by mistake) a Sunrise branded phone. I used it most of the time with Swisscom and have no issues except that the Wap browser button was yellow and blue... you will maybe have to download a new set of WAP or MMS settings (if you happen to ever use them), but that is easily done through the manufacturers or operators website...

Cheers,

Chris

Now that I'm on the inside my advice for anybody coming here who doesn't need a fancy phone or service is go to MIgros: Chf39 for a phone including CHF15 credit. Also I bough CHF30 more credit and I feel like it's going to last forever. I even made calls to Canada(short call) and Malta and it didn't cost much. Thanks for the advice everyone!

This thread has been handy for me as well, to get some good ideas - coming from a place where the tel-cos are desperate for your business, they have super package deals so they get all of your business (and that of your friends & family...). When I walked into Swisscom and asked if they had a package for home phone, internet and two mobile phones, the guy looked as if I'd grown three extra heads.

The Migros option looks good to me as well, since my wife & I have been running pre-paid mobiles for years in Australia now, with international roaming (used to visit Rome and Singapore in the past, now used as a stop-gap for Switzerland)... so pre-paid looks the way to go and, as others have said, the handsets themselves are cheap. Being able to check and top-up your balance online is a bonus, in my view...