Yesterday, Trevor and I were looking at mobile-communication monthly plans. We’ll need a mobile phone while studying in Sweden, but while taking your own phone there is not a problem, getting the best plan the suites you… is.

It’s really not that easy choosing one.

Fortunately, considering the prices (in 2008), only Comviq is at the low base. Telia is up high (in prices, network coverage and market share) and Telenor has basically the same network coverage as Comviq, small market share (so most of your calls will be outbound) and middle-prices between Telia and Comviq.

So, basically the question is “Which Comviq plan?”

Every student is hitting the Kompis plan in a heartbeat. But is it really the cheapest to go with?

Trevor had his try yesterday. Today I had mine ;) You can download the Excel Tele2Comviq Plan Comparison and adjust it to your needs. Here you can also check the prices per minute for calls outside Sweden (to fixed and mobile lines), though my suggestion is to simply use Skype (PC2PC, free, or PC2phone, low rates).

I went with 100 minutes (50 calls of 2 minutes) and 40 SMS each month, because that’s about my highest-average monthly usage, after looking at my previous bills.

Trevor and I both hit Snackis 24 (perfect for our 2 year Master programmes) which has a flat price per call, per minute and per SMS no matter the recipient’s network. Kompis plans on the other hand treat differently inbound and outbound communication.

My only “problem” is that the Snackis line doesn’t have new-mobile deals. It’s a fake problem actually because the new-mobile deals are actually just rates. For instance a phone that costs 1900 SEK up front can be just 1800 SEK if bought with Kompis, with 150 SEK a month.

Anyway, the result for 2 years is that.. with Kompis you pay ~3000 SEK, with Kompis SMS you pay ~4300 SEK but I practically didn’t use the 3000 free “outbound” SMS per month… or with Snackis 24 you pay 2300 SEK and I’m still left with 35 calls of 2 minutes each, during each month “for free” (included in the 99kr monthly fee).

Anyone has a different opinion on this? Care to bring another mobile plan into discussion that looks OK for you?

Looking forward to that!

PS: let’s stay off the discussion about using the WAP version of MSN/Yahoo/ICQ/etc. It’s strictly about getting in touch with someone without fussing around.

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UPDATE 20080806

I added rates for calling abroad from Sweden, and improved the Excel comparison. Regarding the prepaid plans, well.. you can compare, but it’s at least 100€ more over 2 years. And that’s just my “very moderate” phone usage.

Last Modified on August 6, 2008 @ 8:53 pm