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The Two Prices of Every Swiss Plan

Promo vs. standard: which one will you actually pay?

By The Bill Buster · · 5 min read

The Two Prices of Every Swiss Plan

🎭 EVERY PRICE TAG IS TWO PRICE TAGS

Stroll through the Swiss plan market and almost every price tag wears a disguise: a big bold promo price up front, a sad struck-through "standard" price lurking behind it.

The tally: 103 of 177 plans (58%, July 2026) advertise a promo price. Median discount: around 60%.

To unmask a Swiss price tag, you need the one number the poster only whispers: how long the promo lasts. Exactly three answers exist: forever, for a while, and "until we change our minds". Three completely different beasts. 💰

“Which price is real?!”

♾️ CASE 1: THE FOREVER PROMO (65 PLANS)

Plot twist: the majority of promos never expire. 65 plans sell a "promo" price that lasts the lifetime of the contract: you will never pay the standard price. Not in month 13. Not ever.

And the discounts are super-sized:

  • Median lifetime discount: 62% off the standard price
  • The record: 78% off (CHF 89.95 "standard", CHF 19.95 forever)
  • Wingo Europe Go: CHF 75 standard, CHF 27.95 for life

So what IS that standard price nobody pays? Meet the villain of this issue: The Anchor. Its only superpower is making the real price look small. See through it once, and the struck-through CHF 89.95 loses all its magic: CHF 19.95 has to win on its own merits.

On MatchMyMobile, forever prices wear a green-violet gradient and the words "For life!" That's the card telling you this price cannot expire. 🎨

⏳ CASE 2: THE EXPIRING PROMO (22 PLANS), THE ONE THAT BITES

22 plans advertise a price with a countdown strapped to it. Real specimens from the current catalog:

  • Sunrise: CHF 49.95 becomes CHF 89.90 from month 25
  • Swisscom: CHF 59.90 becomes CHF 71.80 after month 12

The median jump when a timed promo dies: about CHF 21 more per month, or CHF 250+ a year, triggered by nothing but the calendar. Tick... tick... KA-CHING.

Two relatives worth knowing:

  • The free first month(s): 7 of these 22 open at CHF 0. Adorable, and irrelevant to what month two costs.
  • The open-ended sale (a third species of its own): 9 plans run a promo with no stated end date. Could last years, could end next Tuesday. Take the promo price seriously, just know it isn't promised. ⏰

A discount with an expiry date isn't a lower price; it's a schedule for a higher one.

🧮 THE SUSTAINED-PRICE RULE (HOW WE RANK)

MatchMyMobile ranks plans by the price you'll sustain, not the one that winks from the shop window:

  • A CHF 0 first month on a CHF 29 plan is a CHF 29 plan
  • A lifetime CHF 19.95 is a CHF 19.95 plan: The Anchor is ignored entirely
  • A 12-month CHF 49.95 that turns into CHF 89.90 is ranked as what it reverts to

That's why our "cheap" top list only admits plans that stay under CHF 20 after the promo dust settles, and every "from CHF X" on the provider pages follows the same rule. The methodology page walks through the math.

Marketing prices come and go. Sustained prices pay your bills. 📊

✂️ READ ANY PRICE TAG IN 5 SECONDS

The Bill Buster's tag-reading checklist:

1. Gradient price + "For life!" → the promo price is the real, permanent price. Compare with confidence

2. Black promo price + struck standard price → flip the card and find the promo duration. A number means a countdown

3. CHF 0 anywhere → read it as "first month free", never as the price

4. Sort by Best value: the sustained-price rule is already baked into the ranking

Two prices on every tag, and now you always know which one is yours. KA-CHING! 💥

Start Comparing Plans!

“Anchor spotted!”

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