Switzerland eSIM: Sunrise 5G, and nothing to register
Switzerland puts the identity check on the seller of a Swiss line, not on the traveller. The profile runs on Sunrise 5G and asks you to register nothing.
12 plans for Switzerland, from 1 GB at $3.99 to 20 GB at $34.99, plus 6 unlimited-data tiers. 5 GB for 30 days costs $6.99 — 2nd cheapest of 56 in Europe, against a $7.99 median. Our retail prices from the operator catalogue, checked 28 September 2026.
Get the eSIM
By data
Unlimited data — you pick the days
Data only: the profile carries no phone number, your own stays as it is. Not sure of the size? Work it out from your trip. Terms and refunds.
Payment and guarantees
What travellers say
What it costs per day
Cheapest per day: 3 GB for 30 days at 17¢ a day. The dearest per day is Unlimited for 3 days at $3.00. Short plans always cost more per day: validity is rounded up, and unused days are paid for anyway.
How much data to buy
Four ways people use a phone abroad, sized against this country’s own plans. The gigabytes are an estimate built from published per-hour rates — nobody measured your phone.
The hours behind each row are our assumption, not yours — put your own in and the same rates do the arithmetic.
Where a row shows a range, the cell is sized on the lower number, which assumes the evening runs on hotel Wi-Fi. On mobile data around the clock, read the upper number and take the next size up. The per-hour rates and the 15% added for background traffic are listed with their sources in the calculator.
What applies in Switzerland
Operator facts from the Airalo catalogue, read 28 September 2026. Rules and networks change — check the date before you rely on a line here.
What you get: operator, network, APN
Your Switzerland eSIM runs on Sunrise 5G, sold under the operator name Pilatus Mobile (catalogue checked 8 September 2026). One network is named for the country, and no second Swiss network stands behind it in the product data.
The APN is automatic on iPhone and on Android (catalogue checked 8 September 2026). Nothing needs typing, and no field needs fixing after install. **Install the profile and leave the APN settings alone.**
The plan is prepaid and carries data only (catalogue checked 8 September 2026). Calls and texts over the mobile network sit outside it, so messaging and calling apps run on the data you bought. Your home SIM keeps the number you already use.
Package shapes, and the wall your trip hits
Two package shapes are sold, and they hit different walls. Gigabyte packages start at 1 GB for 7 days at $3.99 (catalogue checked 8 September 2026). They run up to 20 GB for 30 days at $34.99 (checked 8 September 2026). Unlimited packages sell a window instead. That range starts at 3 days for $8.99 and ends at 30 days for $42.99 (checked 8 September 2026).
A gigabyte package carries two walls, not one. The allowance can run out, and the day limit can arrive first. The 1 GB package expires after 7 days, and the 2 GB package after 15 (catalogue checked 8 September 2026). Every larger gigabyte package runs 30 days (checked 8 September 2026).
An unlimited package has one wall, and it is a date. A twelve-day trip on a ten-day window goes dark for two days. The catalogue marks these packages unlimited and names no speed cap (checked 8 September 2026). No fair-use threshold is recorded either, so none is named here.
Choose by the wall you can count. Travel dates are known before the flight, and gigabyte use is not. **Take a window package when the days are fixed and the usage is heavy or unpredictable.** A gigabyte package suits a short trip with a mostly idle phone. Check its day limit as well as its allowance.
When the day count starts, and what to do before you fly
The day count starts at first usage (catalogue checked 8 September 2026). Neither the purchase nor the install starts it. The window opens when the profile first connects and moves data.
The install window is 365 days (catalogue checked 8 September 2026). The catalogue names that length and no starting date, so install early rather than counting backwards. **Install at home over wifi, then leave the line switched off until you land in Switzerland.**
A profile switched on at the departure gate starts spending its window there. On a 7-day package that is one day handed to a check-in queue (catalogue checked 8 September 2026).
Out of gigabytes: the top-up
The Switzerland profile is rechargeable (catalogue checked 8 September 2026). Data goes onto the same eSIM, so no second profile is installed and no new QR code is scanned.
Top-ups are bought on your order page in this shop, and no Swiss counter is involved at any point. **Buy the top-up while you still have data, or over hotel wifi once the allowance is gone.**
The catalogue lists the opening packages and carries no separate top-up tiers (checked 8 September 2026). No top-up size and no top-up price are named here for that reason. Your order page shows what your plan accepts.
Two lines, and where each switch sits
Both lines can stay live in your phone, and Swiss law caps neither. FMG, FDV, BÜPF and VÜPF set no ceiling on lines or SIMs, in the editions read on 8 September 2026. VÜPF Art. 20a lists what a Swiss seller records when it issues a line, and stops there (VÜPF, Stand am 26. März 2024, read 8 September 2026).
Give the data role to the Swiss profile and keep your home SIM for bank codes and calls. **Turn data roaming on for the Swiss line, and off on your home line.** Both switches sit in the phone settings, not in the plan. Without the second one your home line keeps carrying the traffic.
Calls stay on your home number or inside apps, and Switzerland filters neither. FMG Art. 12e Abs. 1 makes internet access providers carry traffic «ohne dabei zwischen ... Protokollen, Anwendungen, Programmen oder Endgeräten ... zu unterscheiden» (FMG, SR 784.10, Stand am 1. Juni 2026, read 8 September 2026). In English: without distinguishing between protocols, applications, programs or terminal devices. Abs. 2 opens four exceptions, and a standing app block is not among them.
Coverage: what the catalogue names, and what it does not
The catalogue records no coverage exception for Switzerland (checked 8 September 2026). No canton, valley or region is carved out, and the product notes are empty.
An empty note is not a promise about signal strength. It records that the seller lists no exclusion, and nothing more. Reception was not tested on the ground.
Neighbouring territories are not addressed either way (catalogue checked 8 September 2026). The product is sold for Switzerland, and the catalogue names no area beyond the country and excludes none.
The Swiss identity check binds the seller, not you
Switzerland's identity check binds whoever hands you a Swiss line, not the traveller carrying a foreign one. VÜPF Art. 20 Abs. 1 fixes the moment it fires. The duty runs «bei der Abgabe der Zugangsmittel oder bei der erstmaligen Aktivierung der Dienste» (VÜPF, SR 780.11, Stand am 26. März 2024, read 8 September 2026). In English: on handing over the access means, or on first activation of the service. Both triggers belong to a Swiss provider. Abs. 2 shifts the duty to a reseller who hands the line over.
A roaming profile makes you nobody's Swiss subscriber. Under VÜPF Anhang Ziff. 2 a subscriber holds a contract with a Swiss provider (read 8 September 2026). Registering for that provider's services counts, and so does receiving an access means from it. All three branches point at the same provider, and you meet none of them. Your contract is with this shop.
Buy a Swiss prepaid line at a counter and the check does land on you. VÜPF Art. 20a Abs. 1 asks for a valid passport, identity card or foreigner's permit (read 8 September 2026). Your name, birth date and document details are recorded on the spot. BÜPF Art. 21 Abs. 2 puts that «bei der Aufnahme der Kundenbeziehung», when the customer relationship is opened (BÜPF, SR 780.1, Stand am 1. September 2023, read 8 September 2026).
The blocking duty in FMG Art. 6a works inside a provider's own customer base. It reaches a customer without a subscription contract who used a non-existent identity (FMG, Stand am 1. Juni 2026, read 8 September 2026). It reaches one who used a real person's identity without that person's prior consent. It reaches one who showed no qualifying document. The article builds no mechanism for switching off an incoming roaming profile.
The ordinance on telecom services never uses the word SIM (FDV, SR 784.101.1, Stand am 1. Juli 2026, read 8 September 2026). BÜPF Art. 2 lists who carries duties under the surveillance act. The end user is absent from that list (BÜPF, Stand am 1. September 2023, read 8 September 2026).
Nothing to register: your handset and you
Your handset is registered nowhere in Switzerland. FMG Art. 32 asks that equipment met the rules applying at its first market supply, installation or commissioning (FMG, Stand am 1. Juni 2026, read 8 September 2026). It also asks that the equipment «in diesem Zustand erhalten wurde», that it was kept in that condition. Nothing in the article registers the device or charges anything for it.
IMEI is a data field in Swiss law, not a registration. VÜPF Anhang Ziff. 19 defines it as a number «zur international eindeutigen Identifikation von Mobilfunkendgeräten» (read 8 September 2026). In English: for identifying mobile terminal devices uniquely worldwide. A provider hands that number to the surveillance service on request. FMG, FDV and BÜPF never use the word.
No Swiss register lists travellers or their profiles. FMG Art. 4 Abs. 1 has BAKOM register providers that use concession-bound radio frequencies, or addressing elements managed at national level (FMG, Stand am 1. Juni 2026, read 8 September 2026). BAKOM publishes the list of those providers, and neither you nor your eSIM appears on it.
FAQ
Do you have to register a Switzerland eSIM with anyone?
Will anyone ask for your passport because of the eSIM?
Does the plan give you Swiss calls and texts?
Are WhatsApp and FaceTime calls blocked in Switzerland?
Can you add data without buying a second eSIM?
Before you fly: the checklist
- Install the eSIM at home over wifi, days before the flight; the install window is 365 days (catalogue checked 8 September 2026).
- Leave the line switched off until you land, because the count starts at first usage (catalogue checked 8 September 2026).
- Pick a window that ends after your return date, not on it.
- Check the day limit on a gigabyte package too: 1 GB runs 7 days, 2 GB runs 15 (catalogue checked 8 September 2026).
- Leave the APN alone on iPhone and on Android, because it is automatic on this profile (catalogue checked 8 September 2026).
- Turn data roaming on for the Swiss line, and off on your home line.
- Keep the home line for bank codes and calls, because this plan carries data only (catalogue checked 8 September 2026).
- Top up from your order page before the allowance hits zero, or over hotel wifi after it does.
- Carry your passport for the border, not for the eSIM: no Swiss registration touches a roaming profile.
Sources and freshness
Fernmeldegesetz (FMG) vom 30. April 1997, SR 784.10, Stand am 1. Juni 2026 — Art. 4, Art. 6a, Art. 12e, Art. 32 — the document, read 8 September 2026.
Verordnung über Fernmeldedienste (FDV) vom 9. März 2007, SR 784.101.1, Stand am 1. Juli 2026 — read in full for the absence of any SIM or subscriber registration rule — the document, read 8 September 2026.
Bundesgesetz betreffend die Überwachung des Post- und Fernmeldeverkehrs (BÜPF) vom 18. März 2016, SR 780.1, Stand am 1. September 2023 — Art. 2, Art. 21 Abs. 2 — the document, read 8 September 2026.
Verordnung über die Überwachung des Post- und Fernmeldeverkehrs (VÜPF) vom 15. November 2017, SR 780.11, Stand am 26. März 2024 — Art. 20, Art. 20a, Anhang Ziff. 2 und 19 — the document, read 8 September 2026.
BAKOM — Registrierung und Publikation als FDA: «Mit Inkrafttreten des revidierten FMG in 2021 registriert und publiziert das BAKOM Anbieterinnen, die für die Erbringung von Fernmeldediensten bestimmte Ressourcen nutzen.» — the document, read 8 September 2026.
BAKOM — Roaming: «Unter 'internationalem Roaming' versteht man die Nutzung eines Gerätes mit einer SIM-Karte im Ausland.» The page addresses Swiss customers abroad, not an inbound roaming traveller. — the document, read 8 September 2026.
Product catalogue record for the Switzerland eSIM in this shop, no external link — Pilatus Mobile on Sunrise 5G, prepaid data profile, automatic APN on iPhone and Android, first-usage activation, install window 365 days, rechargeable, no identity document at purchase, twelve packages, no coverage exception recorded, read 8 September 2026.
What we did not check: Only the German editions of the four acts were read, and the French and Italian versions are equally authentic. They were not compared line by line. No BAKOM or Dienst ÜPF page addresses an inbound roaming traveller or a foreign eSIM, so this verdict rests on statute rather than on a regulator's explanation of this case; the BAKOM roaming page covers Swiss customers abroad, the opposite direction. Whether a foreign eSIM issuer falls inside the wording of BÜPF Art. 2 Bst. b stays open on the text, and that question was not settled here. Customs and import rules for the handset (BAZG) sit outside telecom law and were not read. The data roaming switch on an eSIM line is a handset setting, and the catalogue records no roaming or APN instruction beyond an automatic APN (checked 8 September 2026). Reception was not tested anywhere in the country, and the catalogue carries no separate top-up tiers, so none are quoted. Newer consolidated editions of these acts may appear after 8 September 2026.