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Questions about Wifi, Data, and the Swiss Travel Pass on an iPhone

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My husband I will be traveling in Switzerland with 15 day Flexi Travel Passes. We understand that we will have to activate and download the pass day by day (our 15 days in Switzerland are not consecutive). In the past, we have purchased an international data plan for one of our phones and used the other phone only when we had wifi access.
Question 1- With the Swiss Travel Flexi Pass, I assume we download that into each phone wallet daily using wifi at our hotel. Then it won't matter if one of our phones doesn't have data while we are out and about because the pass will be there.

We will be in Murren, Zermatt, and Pontresina and doing a lot of scenic train travel. Is wifi reliable in these mountain locations or do we need to purchase something to make sure it works?

Other than the face that we are spoiled and addicted to our phones, Is there any reason we should purchase a data plan for the second phone?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Posted by
32212 posts

The simplest solution would seem to be to arrange a roaming plan with your home cellular network, so that you can use your phone in Europe just as you do at home. That's normally what I do, although it's an expensive option. Is is possible to have the passes loaded on only one of the phones?

I haven't used a Rail Pass in many years so have no idea how to use those with a smart phone. Hopefully one of the others can help with that. I'm not sure if this will answer any of your questions - https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/using-your-rail-pass .

Posted by
981 posts

Once you have successfully downloaded your ticket to the SSB App you don’t need internet access. In most stations you will have free internet access to at least the SBB site.

All Swiss post buses have free internet, so if you see a stationary bus, you can always ask the driver if you can sit in for a few minutes to check emails etc.

Posted by
29 posts

For $30, I would buy a 12GB Three UK sim card off Amazon. It has worked everywhere in Switzerland the past two weeks. Don't get Vodafone for Switzerland. Use WhatsApp for texting/calling anywhere with it. I suggest inviting your friends, before leaving home, on WhatsApp so you're set when you leave your trip.

You will want to use your phone when away from Wi-Fi, even for navigating if trying to find something on foot.. Sometimes there are issues with WiFi.

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