Hi ! 

What you have to be careful about is that A LOT of mobile phone offers here in Switzerland DO NOT include minutes ! They just give you a certain price for the minutes.

Been to a mobilezone shop last week with a friend who wanted an iPhone offer and to get a best price/package deal. 

If you have a Blackberry you will pay 10chf extra for the RIM service (mail redirection) per month. 

If you get an iPhone, you just need to have a good data amount to check email, some web sites, google maps etc . Usually the 2GB package is more than enough. 

Concerning international calls: the only sweet deal offer if you call a lot is with Orange CH. They have two deals called Ultima Unlimited 

http://www1.orange.ch/residential_products_price-plans_universa-unlimited.html?lang=en

It is very pricy but it's a good deal if you speak more than 5 hours / month with the UK, EU, FR, USA, etc. It will get you the cheapest price/minute deal with no hussle. 

This offer concerns mainly the professionals that have a rather variable rate of minutes per month but most importantly call landlines: 

http://www1.orange.ch/residential_products_price-plans_optima-pro.html

I've been an Orange France client for 10 years, never changed phone number, moved here to switzerland and switched to swiss orange and it's still good service. They have good coverage in Geneva and in the major cities like Lausanne, etc. 

Concerning the possibility to keep your number, I have no idea. It should be possible but it might cost you. 

I cannot help you with Swisscom or others but from what I've seen last week you will get only deals where you'll pay for each minute. Those are good deals if you call less than two-three hours per month (especially abroad). 

DONT GET Orange packages! they are not client oriented and have the worse client contracts provisions. Be very careful what you are signing with them. I ended up paying 1.000 CHF for the fact that they didn't explain properly the conditions of the contract and plus the contract was designed in such a way as to trick the client to pay more.

WOW !... Impressed... Could you tell us more what it was about so that other glocals as myself might avoid this kind of surprise?

Thx in advance ! 

You can keep your old number. For me it worked after huge delay. Here they have some 3 weeks perioid before the number can be moved. When this procedure is on its way, you will receive a sms with number to call to declare your number transferrable. This is done by your old company. New company takes it then over after some time. For me, this took some 6 weeks altogether, so maybe you should prepare to have another number at least during that transition time.

Thanks for all the brilliant information and links - that's exactly the info that I needed!

Cripes - I feel a new phone number coming on, as well as a new phone!  Thanks for the tip!

Beware that Orange has the worst coverage - it's fine in the cities but as soon as you get out into the countryside or the mountains it's gone. Swisscom and Sunrise have about equal coverage.

Hi, Carolyn,

I hope you find the best solution, and I will throw in my two cents.  I have a U.S. based Blackberry, and I keep my account in the U.S..  It is less expensive unless I use the device, like I did in April, and I received a sweet $1500 cell phone bill for five weeks of international use, all on their "international plan".  What did I do to beat the system? 

After selling a kidney on eBay to pay the bill, I promptly installed Skype International on my laptop.  For $14 U.S. dollars per month, I can use my laptop to call any email address, cell phone, or land line in the world with unlimited calls--NO per minute fees.  I even added text for an additional per character fee, and I have used it maybe once.  I programmed in my current existing cell number in Skype, so that if I use my laptop to call someone, their caller I.D. shows the number I've had for years, and they know it's me.  The quality has been exceptionally good with perhaps one or two events, where I had to drop the call and place the call again.  I know that Skype offers this service throughout the world, so I believe the price in CHF is close to the same I mention above.  I returned my current cell phone plan to the basic, lowest monthly fee.  People can still call that number, leave a voicemail, and I retrieve my voicemails using skype on the computer, and if I want, I return the calls on skype, and I don't incur those dreaded per minute "yes, you're going to need to auction body parts to pay the bill" charges!  You still need internet access, but it's complimentary in my flat, and if I am mobile, I find a place that has free wifi, and I'm off and running.  I still carry the cell, and if needed, I have it for emergency situations, but otherwise, it stays inexpensively out of my previously constant grasp.  I don't miss it as much as I thought I would, and that intense therapy session for Blackberryaholicism really helped.(wink wink). 

There has to be a way for you to find the local cell and internet service that works best for your current needs, but give skype some strong consideration.  My cell phone bill in April.....$1500.00, and my cell phone bill for July......$200.00 plus the $14.00 for skype.  HOORAY!!!  I get to keep my other kidney.....oh, crap.....I forgot I might need groceries!  (sigh)

Best of luck!

John