Be careful, roaming trap!: What good are new mobile phone subscriptions from the post office?

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Collect the package, send the letter – get a mobile phone subscription! Postal branches have long offered more than traditional postal services. Now the post office is going a step further in the telecommunications sector: it will now sell its own mobile phone subscription, called Post Mobile, which it launched with mobile phone provider Salt, at the post office counter. For 20 years you have also been able to purchase mobile phone subscriptions from Salt, Sunrise or Swisscom at the post office counter. So far the post office has sold 30,000 to 40,000 mobile phone subscriptions each year. There will only be one offer from Salt in the future. Blick answers the most important questions for customers.

“The new Swiss Post subscription has relatively low standard prices. But if you take into account the promotional offers, you will see that it is not so cheap,” Oliver Zadori (40) tells Blick. He runs Jungle Compass, a comparison platform for mobile phone tariffs. There are four different Post Mobile subscriptions in total. For different needs, for example abroad depending on whether you need data or not, but Salt itself offers a subscription with Gomo that’s even cheaper than the joint offer with Post.

There is currently a discount of five francs when you buy a subscription; at least in the cheaper three. Customers benefit from this introductory discount for life. Mobile phone subscriptions can be purchased online and at post offices at a discount until March 28. Customers will also receive a free SIM card worth 49.95 francs until March 7, the post office said in response to the request.

Online comparison portal Moneyland mentions falling into the roaming trap with new subscriptions. Even if you have data abroad with a Swiss, European or World subscription, these are only valid in certain regions. «Salt is the only Swiss supplier that, together with its second and third brands, many EU countries are not part of Europe. When it comes to competition, it is common for all or almost all EU countries to be considered part of Europe,” warns Ralf Beyeler (45) from the comparison platform.

Zadori also criticizes: “Data roaming is not automatically blocked for subscriptions without data abroad; this can lead to hidden costs.” This is already standard for many providers; but only partially valid for Salt. If your mobile phone downloads data from any application in the background while abroad, the daily fee is CHF 4.95. For a two-week holiday this works out to around 70 francs.

Caution is also advised when it comes to payment options. A paper bill costs between 2.95 and 4.95 francs per month. “But other providers have also increased their prices many times for this,” says Zadori. But what makes you sit up and realize is that if you pay the paper bill at the post office counter, the post office charges a processing fee of 4.45 francs. “I wouldn’t recommend a paper invoice,” says Zadori.

No. The post office had previously sold an offering exclusively: Salt’s “subscription” was marketed online only at post office counters or on a separate website. Now it says: “Subscription becomes Post Mobile.” “It’s not something very new in that sense; the name is just new,” says Zadori. Even more special is that the post office no longer sells subscriptions from other providers. “Subscription” and Post Mobile differ minimally: prices are comparable. With Post Mobile, customers have more options. What’s new is that Swiss Post can help shape subscription.

Assessing the situation, Zadori says, “I don’t see any real advantage for the post office.” The new offer works better for Salt. Postal service will not change much in the mobile phone provider market either. Other companies such as Migros, Coop and Galaxus already sell mobile phone subscriptions under their own names. But there are always the same providers behind it: Salt, Sunrise and Swisscom.

Source :Blick