I'm a student on exchange to Bern in August, and i would like to purchase a local line.
I've done a search on the forum and many recommended either yallo(but there's a risk of your international SMS/phone calls not coming in?), migros , or sunrise.
Preferably I need something with free incoming. I'll probably SMS(local) more than I make outgoing calls. I make my international calls through skype so i guess that should cut down the costs.
Essentially this prepaid phone line is to keep me contactable, hence I really hope to get a line with free incoming, even after my credit runs out on the sim.
oh by the way, can I also clarify what it means by having a sim unlocked cellphone?
In my country I can just switch sim cards of different telcos and just use it on my phone. Does it mean in Switzerland there are telcos which sell phones which are tied to their sim card services?
I have yallo and am able to get calls from Italy, Germany, and USA no problem. Minor issue with getting SMS from Verizon (USA) but that is only one phone. Also nice to be able to receive SMS in Italy for free and I think send them for only 0.20 (instead of 0.10 in Switzerland).
Sunrise (which also owns Yallo) is the best deal. They offer a daily flatrate or a per minute rate. I've used them for 2 years and am very happy with the service and price. Their coverage is supposedly not as good as Swisscom and Orange, but I never had a problem.
I think all phones are tied to a carrier, but if you do your research you can find unlock codes online, or a used unlocked phone on Ricardo or eBay.
If you already have the cell phone, then you can get a SIM card from any provider.
Some service providers, e.g. Migros, sell a cheap bundle of phone and locked SIM card. The provider anticipates recovering the phone costs from the future call charges.