How much money is behind a "free plan"?
When you sign up through a comparison site or a reseller like mobilezone, money moves. Not from you at first — from the provider to the affiliate platform.
Typical commissions in the Swiss market:
- CHF 100 to 200 per new customer for comparison sites (Comparis, Moneyland, handyabo.com etc.)
- CHF 150 to 300 for retailers with advice (mobilezone, Interdiscount, Fust)
- At Aloa, the operator behind mobilezone-branded plans like TalkTalk, the number circulating in the industry is around CHF 200 per signed plan
These commissions are standard and not illegal in themselves. They allow comparison sites to stay free for the user. But the money has to come from somewhere.
The four mechanisms by which you pay the "discount" back
1. Long contract commitment
The most common mechanism: 24-month minimum term. You take the promo price, but you can't cancel if a better offer shows up after 12 months. The provider has locked you in, even as the market shifts.
CHF 39.90/mo. for 24 months
2. Price jump after the promo
You sign at CHF 19.90. After 12 or 24 months, the price automatically jumps to the "normal" tariff. Most customers don't notice right away — the invoice looks similar month to month.
CHF 29.90/mo. first 12 months
CHF 59.00/mo. from month 13
3. Weekly bait plans
TalkTalk, yallo, Salt Online and others constantly spin up new plan variants: "Swiss Flex", "Swiss Extra", "Swiss Platinum", "International S Flex". Each with its own promo price. Intended effect: comparison becomes impossible. You see 15 different offers from the same provider and can't tell which is actually cheapest over 24 months.
Most of these plans disappear after a few weeks. In our Supabase DB we track all of them for price history, but on handyabo.com we only show three core plans per provider: the cheapest, the best unlimited, the best with EU roaming.
4. Thinner service
The promo plan headlines at CHF 19.90 — but no EU roaming, slow 4G instead of 5G, or only 10 GB instead of unlimited. For the price of a real flat you end up paying extra for every trip abroad.
How to see through it
- Always check the permanent price. On handyabo.com we show the post-promo price as a badge on every plan with a promo. Comparisons use the permanent price.
- Calculate over 24 months. (Promo price × promo months) + (Regular price × remaining months). Only then you see the real bill.
- Favor "no contract" providers. Wingo, Digital Republic, Mucho, GoMo and Migros Mobile offer monthly cancellation, no hidden minimum term. If the price rises, you just leave.
- Ignore weekly "new promos". If a provider launches a new plan every month, that's marketing theatre. The permanent price stays stable.
- Digital Republic Flat Swiss: CHF 13/mo. unlimited — no contract, no price jump
- Mucho Swiss: CHF 17.90/mo. Lifetime-Promo — Swisscom network, no contract
- Wingo Swiss Plus: CHF 25.95/mo. permanent price — owned by Swisscom, same network
What handyabo.com does differently
We also earn a commission per plan signed — disclosed transparently on every page. But:
- We show the permanent price as the headline, promo prices only as a badge
- We list only 3 core plans per provider, not every marketing variant
- Our ranking isn't paid. The calculator sorts by real value-for-money, not by commission size
- Providers with the highest commissions (mobilezone, big telcos) don't get a bonus slot. Digital Republic and Mucho show up first because they're cheap, not because they pay us best
This isn't altruism. We believe trust generates more commission long-term than short-term tuned rankings. But the result for you is the same: the price you see on handyabo.com is the price you're still paying in 24 months.