Hi,

I will be moving to Basel in July. Any advice on cell phone carriers? I am looking for the best plan to call the states. Also, advice on phone carriers for land lines would be helpful too.

Thanks!
jen

I know the prepaid service on Lycamobile is what most people use if they are using a Swiss number to call their family and friends to the US, I do believe it's the cheapest, but I talk way longer than I can afford those dang 'top up' cards.

http://www.lycamobile.ch/rates.aspx?lang=EN

Alternatively, I still have a US credit card/bank account so I just bought a Vonage where I pay 30 bucks a month and get to call to most countries (I call between US and India which works out best for me)

I'd say think about how long and who you are going to call, sometimes, because of the move, most of your friends and family will Skype you when you are home and Skype to Skype is free (if you are thinking about getting the internet as well).

Hey NYC 2011-

Wonder if you are a transplant from NYC like me?

Just moved here to be with my finacee in October. It took us a while to figure out the phone thing but we found a great solution. I signed up for Swisscom with an iPhone and was using their long-distance services to call the states at incredible cost. After, 2 months of hundreds of dollars in calls, I downloaded Skype and you can add credits. It saved us so much money! Not sure of the rates, but I can talk to my family for an hour and it only uses about $2.00 in credit. And they don't need to have Skype.

Although, now that Microsoft is acquiring them - that might all change.

Good luck!

Orange unlimited plan will give you inclusive calls to landlines and cells in most countries, USA, Main europe etc...

This saves me a fortune as I simply treat calls to the UK and US like calling a buddy down the street for a beer! Works out more efficient and less than skype magic numbers etcs.

If you have a plan like this you really don't need a landline anymore, only reason to have one is if you have a package with say TV and internet.