Zurich - Internet

Zurich - Unobstructed Lakeside Promenade

I’m spending a lot of time organising things, which is a bit of an annoying way to spend your free time, but I’m comforting myself that most of these things are a one-off. Once I’m sorted, I’ll have all that time to do what I want to do instead!

I’d written in an earlier blog that I was using my i-modem that I use in Egypt to get the internet when in Switzerland since I didn’t want to sign up for a year’s subscription. At first, I thought this was great. They told me my use was unlimited and it cost only 2 CHF per day. This was definitely going to be my cheapest option.

However, it didn’t quite work out like that. Believe it or not, it was a bit like being in Egypt again, only Egypt is actually more transparent (who would have thought!). The person serving me at Swisscom failed to tell me that I got high speed until I’d used up an unspecified number of gigabytes (GB) (I never managed to find out what the basic, initial allowance is) and once I’d used up those GB, the speed would be reduced.

It took me a while to fathom out that this limitation existed, partly because at first I kept on renewing my subscription on a short-term basis (thinking I might end up opting for an annual standard connection instead) and so sometimes had used up my GB and sometimes hadn’t (although I didn’t know that this was what was happening). So, I’d have the occasional period where I just couldn’t get my TV streamer to work and I just thought that it was something to do with the streamer’s connection rather than my own internet.

Anyway, one evening I ended up contacting customer support to say that my speed was very slow and they explained that I had used up my allowance (news to me!). I could renew packages, and I could do this online, but the choice was limited and the GB allowance very small. I thought it was bad in Egypt (it’s much improved – you can now get up to 42GB a month), but it’s unworkable here; I think the maximum package in Switzerland was something like 1.2 GB over 30 days. In Egypt, I usually take a bundle of around 10-12 GB a month (I also use the internet to stream UK live TV).

When I first arrived back in Zurich, I went to ask about an internet and TV package (internet only deals don't seem to exist). My rent, unusually, includes basic TV channels from UPC (and includes my TV license), so I thought it would be easier and maybe cheaper to go with UPC for my internet. When I initially asked, UPC said they only do bundles with internet and TV; I asked if I got a discount since I already had the TV channels paid via my rent and the impression I got was that this was not possible and I’d have to pay for the whole internet and TV package. Moreover, I’d be committed for an entire year. On that basis, I decided it was cheaper to stick with my i-modem.

However, having finally given up on my i-modem, I went to ask again and was delighted to learn that my bills would have 35 CHF taken off them each month since the television was already paid for in my rent. This meant that my internet will cost me – truly unlimited this time! – only 25 CHF a month. This is about a third of the price I was paying via the i-modem (if not an even bigger saving, since I never really fathomed out how much it would cost me if I constantly bought more packages), so it's well worth me having a year’s subscription even if I’m not here for the entire year.

I had to pay a one-off cost for the connection and the modem, but it was easy to set up and came online almost immediately (I remember when I first came to Switzerland and set up the internet - I think it took about 30 days to wait for someone to install everything). So far, it's working perfectly.

Anyway, for now, I’m once more a happy internet bunny with unlimited access!