Prepaid plans – which deal is best for surfing?

This year, there are a plethora of prepaid mobile plans for web browsing on offer, including those from Sunrise, Yallo, M-Budget and Aldi. However, the data volumes and tariffs very significantly. So which is the most suitable for your usage needs? comparis.ch has compared prepaid plans. The best deals are presented here.

How does a prepaid plan work?

With prepaid (or pay-as-you-go) plans, payment is made in advance. So although this means you can’t sign up for a contract mobile phone deal, there are no cancellation deadlines. There is usually no minimum term either or if there is, it is limited to one month (with exceptions).

Who can benefit from a prepaid plan?

Until recently, prepaid plans were generally suitable only for light or occasional users. Nowadays, with the wide range of deals on offer, this is no longer the case.  A prepaid plan is usually a good choice if you:

• use little data, make few calls and only use your telephone occasionally.
• want to be in control of your spending – when your credit is used up, no further costs are incurred. The downside here is that you have to keep topping up your credit to keep your phone in use – this can be particularly awkward if you are abroad.
• don’t want to commit to one provider or want to test the services of a provider.

In fact, prepaid plans actually offer some of the most attractive deals for any user. The best ones can be found under the user profiles light user, moderate user and digital nomad, as listed below. The monthly costs comprise the basic rate plus the cost of telephone calls and use of mobile data:

Light user

If you use around 300 MB data, phone for no more than 75 minutes or make 30 calls per month, it’s worth taking a look at the following plans:

Deals for light users

Provider	Product	Price per month
Sunrise	Sunrise Prepaid budget 10 + data package	CHF 15.00
Sunrise	Sunrise Prepaid budget 15	CHF 15.00
Yallo	Yallo All in 15	CHF 15.00
Aldi	Aldi Suisse Mobile Smart 75	CHF 15.90
CoopMobile	CoopMobile Prepaid + data package	CHF 16.15

Moderate user

You are considered a moderate user if you use up to 1,000 MB of data, phone for up to 225 minutes or make a maximum of 90 calls per month. Prepaid plans combined with a data package might be a good choice for you.

Deals for moderate users

Provider	Product	Monthly costs
Yallo	Yallo All in 20	CHF 26.25
M-Budget	M-Budget Mobile Prepaid + Value Pack Big	CHF 28.80
Aldi	Aldi Suisse Mobile Smart	CHF 28.90
Aldi	Aldi Suisse Mobile Smart Flat Auto	CHF 28.90
Lebara	Lebara Swiss	CHF 29.00

Digital nomad

Digital nomads use some 30,000 MB data, telephone for up to 3,750 minutes or make up to 1,500 calls per month. The only viable option for these ultra-heavy users is a flat rate plan, which is included in the following prepaid deals:

Deals for digital nomads

Provider	Product	Monthly costs
Sunrise	Sunrise Prepaid Unlimited 90 days	CHF 40.00
Yallo	Yallo All in 30	CHF 50.00
Sunrise	Sunrise Prepaid Unlimited 30 days	CHF 50.00
Yallo	Yallo All in 40	CHF 60.00
Sunrise	Sunrise Prepaid Umlimited	CHF 75.00

If a prepaid plan is not right for you or you just want to compare more deals, you can check out our mobile phone tariff comparison. Here you will find the best deals for six different user profiles. In addition to the deals for the user types listed above, we have also worked out the best options for the following profiles: heavy user (525 minutes / 210 calls, 3,000 MB mobile data per month), few calls, large data volume (75 minutes / 30 calls, 3,000 MB mobile data per month) and lots of calls, small data volume (525 minutes / 210 calls, 300 MB mobile data per month). One of these profiles should fit your needs.

What should you watch out for with any prepaid plan?

Before you finally settle on a prepaid plan with a certain provider, you should check the following points:

• Cost of making calls and using data in Switzerland and abroad
• Services included
• Additional services
• Mobile network coverage offered by the provider
• DL / UL speed
• Minimum usage requirements

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