I'm staying in Lausanne until the end of January and I'm wondering if there's a mobile phone plan suitable for me. I'll be using the phone to contact friends and others when I'm away from my apartment. I don't expect to use the phone for more than 2 or 3 hours a month. I'd rather use Skype for the longer calls to my friends and family in the States.

I've asked about a few plans that I've seen in various ads but they all seem to require a contract or buying a very expensive phone initially. Do I have any other options?

I got my prepaid phone from Swisscom. I only use it for emergencies. As far as I remember I only had to show my passport & address and that was it.
It was only 49CHF& it does the job.

3 hours per month is 180 minutes. Keep this in mind when you do your calculations.

Any pay as you go system does not have a contract. You must have been looking at the traditional plans. The easiest for you is to go to either a big Coop or Migros store and get a cheap phone and and a sim card.

Keep in mind you need to have your passport with you so they can take a copy of it. For good measure take your Permit as well (although should not be needed).

Coop has a special on now where the minutes are cheaper until the end of the year (sorry. can't remember the exact details). You can go to the Coop City that is in Place St. Laurent or the big Coop at Leman Centre for example.

When I moved to Lausanne somebody on this forum suggested M-Budget(migros) and it was a very good piece of advice if you don't mind no voicemail. I got a phone for CHF39 and it included CHF15 credit. Check it out.

i am using lebara mobile prepaid card.
i paid 5 CHF and got 10 CHF credit
per min call time is 9 cents per min to USA.

got it in a mobile shop in Zug.u can ask for it in ur area

I went to the Post office Shop, got two Yallo Nokia 1209 for 49 CHF in total. If you phone other people with yallo it is 5 cts/min, and free until end of december this year. Otherwise it is 25ct or 39ct (see web site for latest rates). No contract what so ever involved.

So if you have yallo friends you call, it is sooo cheap. With the two phones you get two sim cards with 5 chf on it each. See www.yallo.ch for more info.
You can see who you called online and send free sms online, and recharging is easy. Yallo nrs start with 076 (but I do not know if Sunrise nrs also start with this).

Good luck with the hunt.

http://www.lebara-mobile.ch/en/index.php

2-3 hours per month is considered quite heavy usage here. I doubt a prepaid package will be cheaper for you than a normal plan

peter

Hi,

I am moving to Basel and last week I visited to sort things out. I thought it would have been a good idea to get a mobile phone number. I just got into MediaWorld at the Bahnhof SBB and asked for a prepaid card and it was really straightforward. I got one from Sunrise for 20 CHF with 20CHF credit and it worked. I do not have a permit nor an address in Switzerland so far. I do not know about the fares to make calls. But they told me that if I recharge 20CHF I can get SMS for free until the end of the year.

Cinzia