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My experience with SIM cards in Switzerland and surrounding countries.

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Before I came to Switzerland, I wanted to pre-order two sim cards. I had questions then, and would like to give my experience for others now.

First, the Swiss companies, SwissCom, Sunrise, and Salt only work in Switzerland (I physically stopped in each of their shops to ask) and if you cross any surrounding borders, there are added fees. In addition, all are fairly expensive.

We bought Vodafone and Three UK from Amazon. I would not suggest Vodafone as their coverage breaks up often, and that is annoying. Three UK has been fabulous. They say you can't use it as a hotspot, but I have done it. Three UK has worked in Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, Germany and Italy so far. Both plans cost around $35 with 25 GB of data for 30 days, more than anyone can reasonably use.

Posted by
1803 posts

When I was in Switzerland 4 or so years ago my Vodafone UK SIM and plan worked well. At least for where I was. I wouldn’t recommend them at this time as they charge for EU roaming.

Thanks for the update.

Posted by
29 posts

Vodafone does not charge for roaming in Europe, at least not this card. I did talk to tech support this morning again, and I'll see if that improves matters.

But still praise to Three UK's Euro sim card.

Posted by
119 posts

I’ve previously seen recommendations for the Orange SIM card. Is there something preferable about the Three K? I see a number of these European SIM cards for sale on Amazon, and never having gone this route, I want to make the best choice. In the past, I’ve simply purchased the AT&T passport plan.

Posted by
5687 posts

Vodafone does not offer service in Switzerland, so I assume you got a UK Vodafone card and they have a roaming partner in Switzerland. See the blog below - there are three network operators in Switzerland. Maybe Three is using a different roaming partner and one of the networks has better coverage in the places you have been than another. Salt seems to have the worst coverage of the three.

https://prepaid-data-sim-card.fandom.com/wiki/Switzerland

Posted by
29 posts

As to the Orange card, we are in Switzerland for 30 days, and Orange only went 15 days per pay period. On day 30 now, and the Three UK card has been nearly flawless bought on Amazon.

I would get something before arriving or maybe at the airport, because I wanted to change out the Vodafone in Chur and St. Moritz and finding cards was impossible, especially on a weekend.

I continue to have trouble with the Vodafone card still. Coverage completely stops, then comes back a few minutes later, etc. Tech Support can't figure it out. I would just avoid them.

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