Data Sim Card or Pocket WiFi
Benedict is planning an 8-day trip to Switzerland starting on April 28. He wants to know whether to rent a Pocket Wifi device or buy a Data Sim Card at Zurich Airport, looking for recommendations and pricing info. He’s traveling from Hong Kong and will return to Zurich on the last day.
- Consider purchasing a Salt Sim Card at Zurich Airport for CHF 10, which includes CHF 20 credit for unlimited 4G data for up to 10 days.
- You can also look into TravelersWiFi options for more flexibility if you prefer a mobile hotspot.
- Check the opening hours of shops at the airport to ensure you can buy the Sim Card upon arrival.
AI-generated summary-
We are going to have a 8 days visit in Switzerland staring from 28 Apr 2017. Shall I rent a Pocket Wifi device or purchase a Data Sim Card from Shop in Zurich International Airport? Any recommended shops and what is the estimated price? We are tourists from Hong Kong and will drive through our trip and return to Zurich International Airport on our last day of the trip.
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Regards,
Benedict
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Hi Benedict,
The TravelersWiFi is very popular and easy to use. You could also get a SimCard if you think you will need it – read about both options here: https://www.myswissalps.com/planning/practical/mobile-internet/.
Lucas
Dear Lucas,
Thanks for your reply. However, I cannot get into the link you posted on your reply post. Can you post it again? Many thanks.
Regards,
Benedict
Hi Benedict,
The link has been added!
Hi Benedict,
I’m going to try this http://www.salt.ch/en/prepay/ Looks very economical and you get both phone and data.
Thanks a lot for your recommendation. Can I buy it from the Salt Store in Zurich Airport upon my arrival?
Regards,
Benedict
Hi Benedict, It looks like it is an online promotion only.
The SimCard would be extra as well as it indicates you would normally transfer your number….it’s typically for residents I think.
Lucas
Hi Lucas,
Did you read past the popup (image attached)?
The SIM offer says “Calls to all networks in Switzerland at 0.49/call (60 minutes). Unlimited surf in Switzerland for 1.99/day. International calls from 0.01/minute. 20. –/initial credit with a 10.– SIM card without new phone.”
I read the offer to mean that you buy a SIM for CHF10 and your CHF20 initial credit gets you 10 days unlimited 4G internet. Anyways I have emailed them to confirm that I can buy on arrival.
I know it sounds too good to be true but I have seen comments on TripAdviser and elsewhere indicating it works well. This quote is from 2015 but the offer must still be current as it is still on their website . . . “I got a Salt Sim card for 10 CHF. With this card you get 2 CHF per day credit for 10 days (so total 20 CHF value) towards unlimited 4G use each day. I bought this from their shop in the basement of Lucerne train station. I thought this was an excellent value as the data speeds are quite good.The SIM card cost is 10 CHF. Each day automatically 2 CHF is added as credit towards data for up to 10 days. With that you get unlimited 4G data. I never used any hotel wi-fi with this offer. There is no limit on daily usage. Beyond the initial 10 CHF outlay, I never paid anything and got unlimited data for about 9 days.”
I read their offer to mean that you buy a SIM for CHF10 and your CHF20 initial credit gets you 10 days unlimited 4G internet (assuming you don’t use any of credit for voice/sms). Anyways I have emailed them to confirm that I can buy on arrival.
They claim to be good on trains.
I will report back after my visit in May/June or perhaps Benedict will let us know if he gets there before me.
Hi Lucas and Benedict,
. . . and this is the response I got to my enquiry to SALT – “Yes, you may purchase a prepay sim card at the Zurich Airport, for CHF 10.-. It comes with CHF 20.- balance. Please find its conditions here (http://www.salt.ch/en/prepay/ and cancel the popup).”
That’ll do me.
WAITING FOR YOUR REPLY
Seems like it could work well Rockoyster, good find!
My phone is with Salt and it has been very good everywhere I have been in Switzerland.Lucas
Hi rajikadinesh,
What reply are you waiting for? I haven’t seen a post by you on this thread so I’m confused.
Lucas
Thanks a lot, rockoyster!
Hello Rockoyster
Thanks for this information.Could you exactly locate the Salt shop in Zurich Airport?? They say its in Landside shopping mall but how to reach it after arrival in domestic terminal from Amsterdam (Schengen flights)
Have you any idea about the data cost of Sunrise mobile company??
Udayaditya
Hi udayaditya,
I have never been to Zurich Airport (or Switzerland for that matter) so I can’t give you precise directions. The Store Locator on the http://www.salt.ch website provides the attached map. Looks to me like its between the Airport and the Station so shouldn’t be too hard to find.
I should stress that I have never used the SALT pre-pay product but intend to try it when I get to Switzerland later this year. I have just been exploring options and came across the Salt deal and thought it looked good.
If you want to stick to MySwissAlps.com endorsed product then you really need to pick a product listed at http://www.myswissalps.com/si mcard. In fact I had originally intended to use the Travellers Wifi which looks like the gold standard product. I just thought it quite expensive for the amount of use I would give it.
During my investigations I also came upon the Sunrise Prepay but it doesn’t look like as good a deal as Salt. With Sunrise on the first 20Mbytes per day are at 4G speeds then slowed to 256K which I think would be pretty unusable. You can find details of Sunrise here http://www.sunrise.ch/medias/ sys_master/Factsheets/ Factsheets/h69/hfd/881 9617824798/B01-Factsheet-Sunrise-Prepaid-Airbag-EN.pdf
I looked at SwissCom prepaid options but they are just too expensive for what they offer.
sorry it was a miss communication.
i was waiting for reply from salt to rockoyster
Hello Rockoyster
Thanx for the detailed information.I have also zeroed in on Salt and reaching on 22nd May….I will let you know….lets hope the sim card works in my redmi note 4 4G phone
Udayaditya
Thanks everyone for sharing your findings! As Rockoyster said, the products we tried ourselves are on https://www.myswissalps.com/planning/practical/mobile-internet/, so I can’t share personal experiences for the Salt SIM. So far the main difference with the TravelersWifi mobile hotspot seems to be that Salt offers a SIM card for 4G, so one needs an unlocked phone and one should not mind using a different phone number while traveling. With a hotspot your phone remains untouched and working as usual as it connects to the hotspot via Wifi. One thing to note is that there are quite some companies offering “unlimited data” while in fact they drastically reduce speed after reaching a certain amount (per day or in total). So in such a case it is still unlimited, but with a lower speed it doesn’t work as expected anymore. I don’t know whether this applies to Salt, but it is not the case for the TravelersWifi.
In any case, enjoy your trips and your internet connection 🙂
Hi Udayaditya,
That phone has nice specs. Should be just fine.
Rockoyster,
Does the Salt SIM Card support Tethering? Thanks?
Thank you
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