Hi Dylan

Welcome to geneva.

Unfortunately this is a well protected market and therefore competition in most things is very limited. So benefits like monthly contractsin most types of subscription are almost non-existant.

This may help you from my own personal experience: when I moved into my current apartment I decided to take the swisscom unlimited mobile Internet (USB key) so at least I could use it everywhere there's a mobile signal & I took a 24-month cotract.

Then in my second month I found out it was nto unlimited! The limit was 10GB/month ... as Internet work is part of my profession and I do  lot of educational video I hit that limit and my acount speed was limited to about 10% for the remaining 10 days of that month!! It is now back up to the normal 7.2 mbps.

Swisscom personnel were very good about it. They admited "unlimited" was a marketing term and not the specification. I was given the option to cancel the contract which nornally you can't.

I was also given the option to switch to their DSL ... BUT with just a monthly contract! Now in all my original reseach don't recall ever seeing a monthly DSL contract by Swisscom. So it may be a special concession to me. But it is worth you telephoning them and asking for the monthly. Maybe they have it but don't advertise it.

The other possibility for you is this:

Run your pc and check the list of locked DSL connections around you, in your bulding. I am sure you will find half a dozen with good signal strength. Talk to your neighbours (maybe leave a note in their mailboxes) and offer to pay a share of the monthly fee if they let you have the encryption key. Most people are not heavy Internet users and therefore sharing the cost could be good for them too.

To reassure them that you will not take over the line, cearly state in your letter (if you do any big downloads) you will do music/video stuff at McDonalds or Starbucks or state that you never do it. State your main purpose of the connection (email/facebook/glocals/etc). 

Also most people are nto Internet experts ... assure them, with the key you will only be able to connect to the net but not do anything to their DSL router to eves drop (listen or read) anyone's communications. Only the person with the login details (the contract holder) would have access to the account. Even then such matters are beyond most people. So everyone is safe with this arrangement, including you.

I hope you find what you're looking for. Enjoy this wonderful city and its people.

Bizhan

Oh by the way Dylan, your main choices are sunrise/orange (I think they just perged but may still be operating as separate companies for a while) and Swisscom. 

There is an Orange special offer on the home page of this site.

There are other minor choices such as Cablecomm/Naxoo.ch. Naxoo provide cablecomm's package.

Good luck

B

Many many thanks Bizhan. I've been looking at the USB Modem options (Swisscom and Orange) as well, but was terrified about the 5GB datalimit. If they limit you at 10% of the original speed it's no use taking that option. Been spending time at McDonalds and Starbucks already today and will make some enquiries tomorrow, hopefully I can get the monthly contract at Swisscom as well.

Thanks for the mailbox asking idea as well. There are many in my building, so I'm also going to look into that.

Hey, you are most welcome Dylan.

Letme just be clear ... Siwsscom's upper package (CHF59/month) has a limit of 10GB.

Also, the automatic speed limit, after you hit 10GB, only lasts to the end of the current calendar month and gets reset to the maximum available speed from the first day of the next month.

I did an awful lot of downloads of my technical materials (some from my own various servers on the Internet) using my USB key even when I was in Starbucks & McDonalds. It is not all that easy to hit that 10 GB limit if you have a day job.

The mailbox idea is most effective when people know you a little, are aware you are decent normal person and have no fears. You may want to throw a small party for the people in the building to meet them and get to know them a little.

You'll be amazed at what wonderful people live around you. Then after that, they may be more than happy to help ... otherwise known as "the law of reciprosity" (give first before you receive ;-)

Good luck and have fun

B

the 3G usb-stick modem provided by swisscom and orange is horribly slow, depending on where you are.

you would be rapidly turned off....... unfortunately, most providers try to abuse you : you sign up for a service that is at least 12 months or 24 months...... so even if you are disgusted by the horrible service, you are stuck for 24 months paying every month.....

go for a fixed dsl line with a wi-fi modem from swisscom......  and you will be happy counting on their ever-present customer service line.

Hey Dylan,

Welcome to GVA!

I use an Orange mobile wire-less stick, and am happy with it.

For sure, a fixed wireless is faster tho.

If you do go for a fixed wireless I recommend Orange or Sunrise. Reception exactly the same as swisscom, and cheaper. Not sure about the Sunrise client service, but the Orange one is excellent.

And check out the orange offer for glocals members.

Good luck,

Nir

Has anyone tried Skype with video from the USB wifi?  Would that run you into the 10GB per month limit if you had video calls every few days?

thanks for the advice,

~lauren

Hi Lauren, 

Havnt tried, but I doubt you'll be able to get any good quality real-time video chats with a USB stick. The connection will likely be way too slow. 

Nir

@Lauren - I don't have any problems with daily skype videos and it works just fine. I hit the 10 GB limit becuase my work is on the internet and I was downloading a lot of my own training videos and also watched a whole bunch of episodes of Two And A Half Men, House, NCIS and others online in January.

Skype video is small and low quality not like TV shows. So even an hour per day of talking is highly unlikely to hit the limit. Also note that you get an indocation of how much downloads you have done so you can always turn off the video if you are getting close to the limit.

@Marc73 - I found a way of testing my 10GB Swisscom USB stick

If you get the contract from a Swisscom shop then you have a 14-day no questions asked return period! But if you get it from another shop you won't have the return option.

I did got mine from shop to check the reception and speed in my new apratment. It worked fine and the speed is good ... it always runs at 7.2 mbps (mega bits per second) ... oh sure it is not the 20 mbps that you just may get from DSL on a good day!

Here is the explanation: DSL speeds are very much the top speed 'possible'. The actual speed depends on how many people near you are doing downloads etc. Bascially with all DSL you share the line with up to 49 of your neighbors. It is called contention ratio (50:1). So most evenings you will not get anywhere near the top speed but you probably will get a little more than 7.2 mbps.

But remember just 3 years ago 7.2 mbps was 'amazing' so today it is not so bad an dis pretty managable.

BTW, I asked at the Swisscom shop if they do any sort of offers or I can get some special offer eg memory for my laptop or something if I sign up for 2 years either at Swisscom or at another shop. They said no.

Imagine my surprise when I saw that Interdiscount had a special offer 10 days after my contract started! I tested the USB stick, it was fine. I returend it an dtrue enough they never asked a question.

I got the same from Interdiscount and also got a CHF 530 HP netbook computer for just CHF49 (yes fourty nine francs).

So do check out Interdiscount to see if they have an offer.

In any case if yo are a heavy duty and professional Internet user, DSL is better. But if you have a day job and don't want to download movies every week, then the freedom of the USB stick is worth considering.

I hope this helps.

Bizhan