Higher data roaming charges are part and parcel of foreign travel. Unlike other countries, Switzerland cannot abolish roaming completely. Find out why here. However, you can avoid high mobile bills with the following tips.
With the inOne mobile subscriptions go and premium, you can use your mobile phone abroad just as you would at home.
Are you planning a holiday in the USA or Canada? Purchase an Intercontinental Pack in addition to your inOne mobile go subscription for unlimited surfing, calls and SMS at your holiday destination. Simply register before you go on holiday and unsubscribe when you return. Swisscom bills you for the days you use, rather than the full month.
Swisscom’s inOne mobile subscriptions XS, S, M, L and XL (with the exception of inOne mobile light) include an international roaming allowance: giving you access to at least 30 days of Internet, SMS and telephony within Europe. Depending on the price plan, 100 or 1000 MB annually, and 1000 SMS monthly, are included outside Europe. Use up this allowance first before you buy an additional data package.
Buying an additional data package is probably worth your while if you:
You can buy data packages in the Swisscom Cockpit. The Cockpit also provides details of prices and how much data you have already used. Using the app and accessing cockpit.swisscom.ch are also free abroad.
If you are abroad, you may be charged for messages on your COMBOX®. To avoid this, you can deactivate all call forwarding to your COMBOX® while you are abroad. Enter the key combination #21# on your mobile phone or go to the Swisscom Cockpit. If you use Visual Voicemail (VVM) for your mobile phone, please note that you will need mobile data. Using VVM with data roaming may incur costs.
Using maps and navigation on holiday can be a costly business. However, most apps can also be used offline. For instance, you can mark all the places you want to visit on holiday on MAPS.ME before you leave. If you’ve already downloaded the city maps you need while you have Internet access, you can set a few pins, and even without the Internet the app will take you to the sights, recommended bars or market on the other side of town.
Many apps play back videos or animations even as you scroll – like Netflix, Youtube, Twitter or Instagram. If possible, switch off this auto start function in the app or use these apps less when abroad.
Make sure that automatic background updating is deactivated in your smartphone’s basic settings. You should also switch off automatic app updates (i.e. the automatic installation of new app versions). This way, you can prevent data being used unnoticed.
Check whether your smartphone is due for a system update before you go. Otherwise, your smartphone may suddenly want to install new software while you are on holiday. If a new update is available during the holidays, do not install it until you get home.
At home, uploading photos to the cloud is practical and useful. However, you should deactivate this function during the holidays and only activate it manually if a secure WLAN is available. Most smartphones offer you the option of limiting synchronisation to WLAN in the basic device or app settings. Tip: Swisscom offers customers free unlimited access to its own cloud, called myCloud.
Why don't you mentioned to switch off the combox as tip to avoid extra costs abroad? I just got my bill with additional CHF70.- due to calls I never recevied but charged to my combox. I did not even have a message let from my friends or telemarketing call, but most probably they called my mobile till they heard the combox announcement. Anyway, Swisscom is charging those calls!
Missing Swisscom's response to your query / complaint 😞
Hi @Gaustullu47
Thank you very much for your advice. And sorry for the costs you incurred. We will add this to the article.
Best wishes, Miriam
Suggest to add a note about and link to : turn off roaming. Thank you