Phones[edit]
Public phones are surprisingly cheap, and have no surcharge for credit cards.
If you stay for some time, it may be advisable to buy a pre-paid cell phone card that you can use in any phone that supports the GSM standard on the 900/1800Mhz bands - they usually cost around CHF10-40 and are obtainable in the shops of the mobile service providers Swisscom, Orange or Sunrise in most cities. Swisscom mobile network coverage is close to 100% by area, even in the mountainous, non-populated areas. Other operators cover mainly cities.
There are also a lot of cheap prepaid cards for local calls from other providers. The prepaid cards of the big supermarket chains Migros (M-Budget-Mobile) and Coop (Coop Mobile) for example cost around CHF20 and include already CHF15 airtime. The cheapest prepaid card for calls within Switzerland is Aldi Mobile [46]: CHF0.14/min Switzerland fixed and Aldi mobile, CHF0.34/min other mobiles. The cheapest prepaid card for international communication is yallo [47]: CHF0.39/min within Switzerland as well as to all European and many more countries (to the mobile and fixed networks). This includes the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. SMS cost CHF0.10. The prepaid cards can be bought online (CHF30 with CHF30 airtime inclusive), in most post offices (CHF29 with CHF20 airtime inclusive) or Sunrise shops (CHF20 with CHF20 airtime inclusive). An other prepaid card with cheap rates offers Lebara Mobile (Sister company of Sunrise). The prepaid card is available for CHF5 with an equivalent talk time and recharge vouchers offer the talk time equivalent to the price of the voucher.
Don't forget that despite several Switzerland-EU treaties, the EU roaming regulations do NOT apply in Switzerland. This means that rip-off prices for calls, texts and data are the norm (€2-3 per minute for phone calls, €15-20 for data). In order to avoid getting a bill for hundreds if not thousands, it's best to avoid using foreign SIM cards in Switzerland altogether and get a local one if you need it.
Internet[edit]