Best cell phone plan for Switzerland and Italy
A traveler is planning a trip to the Swiss Alps, Lake Como, and Rome and is looking for the best phone carrier options that work in both Switzerland and Italy. They are currently unsatisfied with their carrier's international plan and are considering alternatives like T-Mobile or mobile hotspots while seeking feedback on coverage and ease of use.
- T-Mobile’s MagentaMax 55+ plan provides reliable coverage and unlimited texting with 5GB of high-speed data in Europe, making it a good option for seamless connectivity.
- Airalo offers regional eSIM options for Switzerland and Italy, such as 3GB for $13, which simplifies access to data without needing to switch SIMs.
- Swisscom offers a prepaid SIM for unlimited data and calls within Switzerland, but you will need to get a separate SIM for Italy.
AI-generated summary-
Hi- Going to travel around Swiss alps and then lake Como and Rome and trying to figure out what’s the best phone option. I can have multiple eSim cards on my iPhone but is there a good carrier that covers both Switzerland and Italy? My current carrier, ‘Consumer Cellular,’ international plan is not good. T-mobiles looks good but I don’t know what their coverage is over there. ( Last time I was in Italy I got an Italian carrier and it was more trouble than it was worth. )
I could get a mobile hot spot but I would be subject to the same coverage limits of whatever carrier I have , correct?
Any feed back is appreciated. Thanks!
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I live in the US. In the Spring, I switched to T-Mobile’s MagentaMax 55+ plan that includes unlimited texting and up to 5GB per month of high speed data (then slower after 5GB) in 215+ countries around the world. Voice calls are $0.25 per minute in those 215+ countries. I did this switch just before leaving on a 3-week trip/cruise to Europe which included Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro and Greece.
I found the service in all those countries to be just like it was in the US. I kept my same US phone number. I texted back and forth with all my US friends and family as I always do without any difficulties. I did not need to make any phone calls, but I had a strong phone signal just like at home. I did listen to a voice mail message that came in at one point and was charged 25 cents for this on my next bill. For my 3 week trip, I used about 3GB of data. Well below the 5GB of high speed data the plan covers.
While in Europe, you do not access T-Mobile’s cell network. You will be accessing a local company’s network in that particular location. When I turned on my phone in Italy, I was sent a text message automatically welcoming me to Italy and giving me some info about the network. This was the same as I entered each new country. It just seamlessly worked. I did need to enable cellular roaming, which I had turned off in the US. So in Switzerland and Italy, you will connect to the cellular company that T-Mobile has agreements with. T-Mobile has a strong European partnership, since they are majority owned by Deutsch Telekom. At least I think they still are. They certainly were at one point. I have read multiple reviews on Facebook and various forums that indicate T-Mobile worked just fine in Switzerland. I believe they use the SwissCom network.
I like this approach better than having to research and buy a SIM or eSIM specific to countries I will be in. Or purchase an add-on package from my current carrier — if they even offer one.
But you’d need to like T-Mobile for use in the US too in order to do a switch like I did. As it turns out, I like it. I’m paying a bit more than I previously was — $65/month. But that includes a free Netflix and AppleTV+ subscription, one year of AAA, one year of MLBTV network. So I find the value worth it. I generally go to Europe 1 or 2 times a year (or more). It works for me.
Hello,
We have T-mobile and we used the Airalo e-sim in Switzerland and Italy. It was pretty easy to use. You can get the regional esim 3 GB for $13, 5GB $20. You can use my referral code CHAO0747 for $3 off.
Great info PAPirate, thanks! I will definitely look into that. I like idea of having the same phone number instead of two. And thank you Curlyfur. I’m curious, how much are phone calls with the airalo-eSim or is thats just for data?
Hi Lucky123,
In addition to the great tips you already received, you’ll find details about the SIM cards and mobile hotspot we personally recommend here: http://www.myswissalps.com/simcard.
Hi, I recently returned from travel thro UK, Germany and Switzerland where I befriended a traveler from Sweden. He had an amazing Swisscom prepaid sim card that was purchased on arrival there: unlimited data, calls, SMS within Switzerland cost 20 CHF for 7 days. And 5G data. Unfortunately it is only for within Switzerland, as I understood it. Check out swisscom.ch website for more information ..I reckon for Italy can buy Italian sim cards too. In my case I used UK simcards which work through EU (other than UK), had 3 in total because post-Brexit a UK sim data in EU is subject to 12GB/month; each card valid 1 month (my trip was 2.5 months so in hindsight Swisscom sims would be too costly) though phone/sms are unlimited with limitations ie cannot talk too long. Hope this helps
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