Well, the time has come to get rid of my horrible Swisscom corporate contract, and get something different and cheaper. I send a lot of SMS per month and Swisscom at 0.20CHF per text is absolutely crucifying me. I have my sights set on two contracts, from Orange:
The thing that turns me on about Orange, aside from the reasonable prices, is the fact I can get a 12-month contract. I personally hate being tied into long 24-month ones.
I will be getting a phone that will primarily be a heavy uber-gadgety data device, so 3G coverage is a must in and around Zurich. Also important is signal strength for basic calls while outside Zurich and maybe up the odd mountain.
So... can anyone please comment on the signal strength of Orange vs Swisscom? Also of interest would be Sunrise, but more for curiousity's sake.
Each operator has a map of their signal strength throughout Switzerland.
I unluckily enough, live right in an area where the signal strength is extremely poor... Orange would do a little better than Sunrise, but don't expect miracles in Switzerland.
Due to some legislation, the operators may not erect as many cell towers as they'd like to. I've been to remote islands in Thailand, way up north in Finland, in South American ghetto's, and all of them had better signal strength (that didn't drop all the friggin time) than here
My opinion: stay with Swisscom. Inside the bigger cities, Orange's 3G network is alright (alright, but not great). Outside: forget about it. Since Orange doesn't have an EDGE network, you're screwed as soon as you don't have a 3G signal. Web browsing on GPRS without EDGE is close to impossible.
3G coverage, in general, is subpar in Switzerland. You mostly don't get a decent signal inside buildings and on trains it's darn slow. GSM + EDGE on Swisscom are pretty much omnipresent, though, even on top of mountains.
Sorry, but that is a legend. I work at one of the operators and can tell you that there are no legal reasons (at least I know of), but it is very difficult to find and rent land for a base station.
Especially in some "richer areas" as for examples Zurich's gold coast nobody is willing to rent land and if you do file a "Bauantrag" all neighbors run amok for the spoilt lake view or "radiaton". Everybody wants a good signal, but nobody wants to see the antenna...
The problem is Swisscom tarrifs are just too expensive... there is nothing to compare to the value of the Orange equivalents. I think I may buy a Swisscom Pay as You Natter card for when I go skiing, and keep the Orange as my main SIM and contract. I just don't think I can justify spending the amount I spend just for the rare times i'm out of the city and the signal is weaker.
Swisscom's coverage is superior since they have a lead of about 20 years in comparison to their 'competitors' and most of their network's build-up was done in a time when electro smog was no issue, however, except for inhouse coverage in some places and some remote areas, the coverage of Orange and Sunrise is usually good enough according to my own experience.
Why do you want to go with Orange? Sunrise is usually less expensive and has the better network from a technical perspective (in particular dual-band GSM and EDGE).
I bought a cheap M-Budget Mobile cell phone (including SIM card) excately for this reason. M-Budget Mobile is absolutely no-frills (no MMS, no voice mailbox, no Intenet) but it uses Swisscom's network. I fully agree, 'good enough' is often the best option when you consider what you actually need ('nice to have' is usually way to expensive).
If you can find me a Sunrise deal that works out cheaper than the Orange Xtreme Surf Unlimited deal I posted in the first post (Unlimited SMS, 1GB internet, 0.45CHF call rates for 44 CHF per month) then I would seriously consider it... I couldn't find one to match it.
That's what he meant, he was of course responding to my post above his. Anyway after looking at the coverage I think Sunrise may be the lesser of two evils, and the rates are cheap.
p.s. I forgot to mention that my Orange connection is really poor where I live, and it keeps jumping to Orange FR or France Telecom since the signal seemms to be stronger across the lake.
This keeps adding extra chf to my monthly bill, a major annoyance. So then I need to go running after these guys for this money I'm paying extra. Sometimes you have hidden costs when you look to save some money elsewhere...
If you look behind the logos, Swisscom is massive compared to Orange and Sunrise, in terms of money, size, employees, etc. Hence, Swisscom has the best coverage quality, etc, but you also pay more for that as well.
Sunrise/diAx (anyone remember diAx?) was the second operator in Switzerland, and Orange was the last on the scene. Orange has GSM on only 1800*, so considering this and that they were last, their coverage outside of cities isn't that great. However I heard their coverage/quality in heavily populated areas is very good. Sunrise is cheapest price--wise, and also has GSM 900 which is a big plus. All 3 operators have 3G on 2100, so for 3G coverage it comes down to who has more sites in their network.
If you want to map your coverage, and have a Symbian phone with GPS, you can use this app:
You can also see the difference in 3G coverage between Swisscom and Sunrise between Bern and Zürich. Swisscom has 3G coverage pretty much the whole way, while Sunrise stays on GSM most of the time.
*Note: Orange later did get a couple of GSM 900 freqs, but not enough to build a network on. I'm not sure if they are even using them
GSM 1800 vs 900 makes very little difference, even to the extend that Vodafone and o2 in the UK are primarily 900 based but have some 1800 frequencies in the main cities.