Once again, the mobile networks of Swiss providers received top ratings from the trade magazine “Connect”. Swisscom further expanded its previous leading position. However, Sunrise and Salt also improved.
The German trade magazine “Connect” gave the three major mobile phone providers in Switzerland the top rating of “outstanding”. All of them were able to increase further compared to the same period last year, as can be seen from the test report.
Legend: Swiss mobile phone providers have been receiving top marks from the German trade magazine “Connect” for years. Keystone/Archive/PETER KLAUNZER
Swisscom landed at the top of the ranking for the sixth time in a row. With 981 out of 1000 possible points, the “Blue Giant” was able to further expand its lead over the competition and also achieved the highest number of points ever awarded by “Connect”. Last year Swisscom had 970 points.
Sunrise plans to increase 5G bandwidth by switching off 3G
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Legends: Keystone/Archiv/Ennio Leanza
Sunrise wants to increase the bandwidth of 5G by 50 percent from mid-2025 by switching off the outdated mobile technology 3G (also known as UMTS). The slower version of 5G (5G Basic) is expected to have more speed and greater capacity from mid-2025.
Sunrise announced that the previous 3G bandwidths would be used for 5G in the future. Customers would benefit from faster and more stable connections, especially inside buildings. The slower version of 5G is up to 1 gigabit per second, the faster version 5G has a maximum speed that is twice as high. To switch from 3G to 5G, Sunrise does not have to convert antennas, but only reallocate the frequencies in the mobile radio spectrum, as a spokesman said upon request.
The shutdown of 3G is no surprise: Sunrise technical director Elmar Grasser announced this at the end of June. The third generation of mobile communications (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, UMTS) was introduced in the Sunrise network around 20 years ago and is now inefficient compared to the newer technologies 4G and 5G – both in terms of the use of the radio spectrum used and in terms of energy consumption. Sunrise is not alone with the 3G shutdown. Swisscom had announced the end of 3G at the end of 2025.
Sunrise also increased its result slightly by 9 points to 968. Sunrise is almost on a par with Swisscom, especially when it comes to language discipline and 5G expansion in cities, it goes on to say. In most other categories, Sunrise is only slightly behind.
Salt achieved 950 points after 945 in the previous year’s test. Salt was also given the “outstanding” rating for the first time. Salt was able to impress the testers, especially with the data and language ratings. However, there is still room for improvement in the availability of voice telephony on connecting roads.
5G is standard in Switzerland
The “Connect” testers were particularly positive about the level of development of mobile telephony on Swiss trains. “Customers in other countries could only dream of this,” the report says. 5G technology has also become the standard in Switzerland.
In cities, Swisscom and Sunrise are almost on par with 5G. However, outside the centers, Swisscom is ahead. Salt has shown significant growth compared to the previous year.
The “Connect” testers covered around 6,300 kilometers in Switzerland for the test. This included trips by car, train journeys on long-distance routes and also forays on foot in eight cities. According to “Connect”, the measurement campaign covered just over a quarter of the Swiss population.