Warning, this is a long post but it does come after a long decision process. Maybe it will help some of you.
Both Swisscom and upc cablecom are out to increase their average revenue per user. They upsell their customers to the costlier bundles with all the bells and whistles for TV, Internet and telephone. Both Swisscom Vivo Casa 5 Star and Cablecoms Super Combi have the fastest Internet... along with free calls to fixed and mobile phones, and even to fixed phones in many foreign countries, and close to 200 TV channels. You want one, then you also need to sign up for the other.
Those things are not free theyre embedded in your bill, like the cocktails at the swimming pool bar during your last holiday at the all-inclusive resort in Tunisia, whether you drank them or not.
You end up paying to receive a lot of services, some of which you may not need or want at all. For the triple-play telecom offers, the bill is often 100 francs a month or more.
I decided to take the opposite direction: go for a no-frills bundle.
In my case, it was Cablecoms HD Cable Light Combi, or the foundation offer for the cost-conscious. It costs 25./month plus the cable connection fees (29 francs). So total cost is 54.-/month.
It consists of Phone Start (free calls to Swiss fixed phones), 5 Mbit/s Internet, and the basic digital TV offer, i.e. the free channels available from the cable socket, with no decoding box included (so a DVB-C set-top box or TV is required).
Cablecom launched this product last year very quietly: it wasnt visible on the front page of its website, and you had to look for it to find it.
Durning product revision of last February it became more interesting as the phone part now gives you free calls to Swiss fixed phones at all times, instead of only during the weekends. If you look at the individual products, Phone Start costs already 25.- by itself, so if you get the Combi Light youre getting 5 Mbit/s Internet for no added cost.
Initially, I had telephone and Internet with Swisscom, and cable TV with Naxoo. I paid 25.35.-/month for basic telephone, 49.-/month for 10 Mbit/s Internet (which was actually 5 Mbit/s more often than not), and 29.-/month buried somewhere in the chargers of my apartment bill. Total a little over 100 francs.
Last year, when Naxoo/UPC Cablecom started offering free Internet, I took that up and cancelled my Swisscom Internet subscription. I kept Swisscom fixed line telephone. So my TV/Internet/telephone total cost dropped to 25.35 + 29 = 54.35. However, Internet was pretty slow Id say barely bearable: any big file would take ages to download, and HD streaming was out.
So when Cablecom offered 5 Mbps Internet and telephone with free calls to fixed phones for 25.-/month, it was a no-brainer. Now I have the same service as what I had with Swisscom two years ago, only that Im paying 49 francs less a month, and I can call fixed phones in CH for no extra charge. Not too shabby, right?
To be honest, I was a bit scared after all the Cablecom horror stories, but everything went fine (modem delivery and activation, telephone number transfer, etc.). And contrary to what many people say, 5 Mbps is enough for streaming YouTube, as long as it is only one user at the same time.
You do miss the extra speed when you have to download large files. For example, I just got an update for my TomTom GPS device and the 3.5 GB file took 80 minutes to download. Luckily, its not very often that I have to do that.
Other budget bundles are:
- Swisscom Vivo Casa 1-star: 69./month
- Sunrise basic: 55./month
- M Budget TV: 59.80/month
You can see a (slightly outdated) article comparing these basic bundles here.
Of course, its not a perfect solution. Internet is not the fastest. I have plenty of TV channels, but I'd like to have the Spanish Liga. However, not at 100+ CHF/month.
Then again, maybe in a year cablecom will increase speed to 10 Mbps for 3.- more a month. ;)
Both Swisscom and upc cablecom are out to increase their average revenue per user. They upsell their customers to the costlier bundles with all the bells and whistles for TV, Internet and telephone. Both Swisscom Vivo Casa 5 Star and Cablecoms Super Combi have the fastest Internet... along with free calls to fixed and mobile phones, and even to fixed phones in many foreign countries, and close to 200 TV channels. You want one, then you also need to sign up for the other.
Those things are not free theyre embedded in your bill, like the cocktails at the swimming pool bar during your last holiday at the all-inclusive resort in Tunisia, whether you drank them or not.
You end up paying to receive a lot of services, some of which you may not need or want at all. For the triple-play telecom offers, the bill is often 100 francs a month or more.
I decided to take the opposite direction: go for a no-frills bundle.
In my case, it was Cablecoms HD Cable Light Combi, or the foundation offer for the cost-conscious. It costs 25./month plus the cable connection fees (29 francs). So total cost is 54.-/month.
It consists of Phone Start (free calls to Swiss fixed phones), 5 Mbit/s Internet, and the basic digital TV offer, i.e. the free channels available from the cable socket, with no decoding box included (so a DVB-C set-top box or TV is required).
Cablecom launched this product last year very quietly: it wasnt visible on the front page of its website, and you had to look for it to find it.
Durning product revision of last February it became more interesting as the phone part now gives you free calls to Swiss fixed phones at all times, instead of only during the weekends. If you look at the individual products, Phone Start costs already 25.- by itself, so if you get the Combi Light youre getting 5 Mbit/s Internet for no added cost.
Initially, I had telephone and Internet with Swisscom, and cable TV with Naxoo. I paid 25.35.-/month for basic telephone, 49.-/month for 10 Mbit/s Internet (which was actually 5 Mbit/s more often than not), and 29.-/month buried somewhere in the chargers of my apartment bill. Total a little over 100 francs.
Last year, when Naxoo/UPC Cablecom started offering free Internet, I took that up and cancelled my Swisscom Internet subscription. I kept Swisscom fixed line telephone. So my TV/Internet/telephone total cost dropped to 25.35 + 29 = 54.35. However, Internet was pretty slow Id say barely bearable: any big file would take ages to download, and HD streaming was out.
So when Cablecom offered 5 Mbps Internet and telephone with free calls to fixed phones for 25.-/month, it was a no-brainer. Now I have the same service as what I had with Swisscom two years ago, only that Im paying 49 francs less a month, and I can call fixed phones in CH for no extra charge. Not too shabby, right?
To be honest, I was a bit scared after all the Cablecom horror stories, but everything went fine (modem delivery and activation, telephone number transfer, etc.). And contrary to what many people say, 5 Mbps is enough for streaming YouTube, as long as it is only one user at the same time.
You do miss the extra speed when you have to download large files. For example, I just got an update for my TomTom GPS device and the 3.5 GB file took 80 minutes to download. Luckily, its not very often that I have to do that.
Other budget bundles are:
- Swisscom Vivo Casa 1-star: 69./month
- Sunrise basic: 55./month
- M Budget TV: 59.80/month
You can see a (slightly outdated) article comparing these basic bundles here.
Of course, its not a perfect solution. Internet is not the fastest. I have plenty of TV channels, but I'd like to have the Spanish Liga. However, not at 100+ CHF/month.
Then again, maybe in a year cablecom will increase speed to 10 Mbps for 3.- more a month. ;)