The Cost to Stay Connected: Switzerland Revealed to Be the Most Expensive Country for Data
The internet has become such an important part of our lives. Depending on where you live and what providers are available, the internet can be an expensive monthly bill. Often, there’s no way around it. If you want internet in your home, you have no choice but to pay for it.
Now, you can find out why they’re as pricey as they are and which countries are the most expensive.
Some of the reasons why is internet so expensive:
Markets Aren’t Competitive
One of the first things that you’ll notice when you go to get internet is that there aren’t many choices. There may only be one provider in your area. If you’re lucky, you might find a second provider, but this can be rare. Since the markets aren’t competitive, there’s no need for the providers to provide great service or great prices.
Equipment Is Costly
There are various pieces of equipment needed to access the internet. Depending on the type of network you’re connecting to, you might need a gateway, a bridge, a hub, a switch, or a router. The router is the most common way to access the internet from your home. You can buy one from any electronic store or you can rent one from your internet provider. Most people choose to get their router from their operator.
Poor Infrastructure
Internet is a requirement for so many homes and businesses. However, many rural areas are still without internet. The FCC has identified that close to one-fourth of the population in rural areas, around 14.5 million people, are without internet. Infrastructure is expensive, which is one of the reasons it’s not everywhere across the U.S.
Regulations Are Lacking
If you’ve noticed, there aren’t a lot of regulations concerning internet service providers. The problem with that is that they have entirely too much control over the quality of service they provide and what they’re able to charge. Essentially, internet providers are allowed to create monopolies. They can run an entire city as the sole provider. Since they are allowed to do this, they have the power to charge anything they want, and they have chosen to charge a lot.
High Demand
Demand is a top reason for the high prices of internet bills. The internet providers know that there is high demand. After all, people want the internet to be able to stream from top TV apps like Hulu and Netflix. They want the internet to check their social media sites. Of course, they also need the internet to be able to work from home. The demand is only getting greater, especially as many companies have learned that people can often be more productive by teleworking.
When there is demand, internet providers get greedy.
There Are Different Speeds
There are various internet speeds, which will impact the cost of what you pay. The faster your internet is, the more you’ll pay. Most internet speeds are based on the download speeds, measured in Mbps or megabytes per second.
A study by Business Fibre takes an in-depth look into how much it costs to stay connected to the internet around the world. The study also highlights the UK’s best mobile and broadband providers.
Study has analysed pricing of data in different destinations to reveal the countries where surfing the net is the most and least expensive. The study also highlights the best internet and mobile providers in the UK based on customer rating, pricing and speed. You can view the graphic here.
As of January 2020, there were over 4.5 billion active users on the internet, meaning that 59% of the global population were online. The internet plays a huge role in how we live and work today and life without it has become unimaginable. But where you live in the world can determine the price and the speed of your connection. Most Expensive Country for Data
The top five most and least expensive countries for staying connected are:
| Countries | Avg. cost of 1GB of data (£) | Avg. mobile download speeds (Mbps) | Avg. mobile upload speeds (Mbps) | Avg. broadband download speeds (Mbps) | Avg. broadband upload speeds (Mbps) |
| 1. Israel | £0.71 | 22.63 | 12.06 | 85.71 | 18.77 |
| 2. Finland | £0.91 | 48.05 | 14.57 | 83.71 | 37.83 |
| 3. Denmark | £1.07 | 48.58 | 18.44 | 130.28 | 101.34 |
| 4. Austria | £1.48 | 49.12 | 14.82 | 53.58 | 16.13 |
| 5. Lithuania | £1.62 | 47.53 | 13.32 | 101.87 | 98.96 |
Table 1 highlights the top five countries where it cost the least for 1GB of data
| Countries | Avg. cost of 1GB of data (£) | Avg. mobile download speeds (Mbps) | Avg. mobile upload speeds (Mbps) | Avg. broadband download speeds (Mbps) | Avg. broadband upload speeds (Mbps) |
| 1. Switzerland | £15.88 | 57.81 | 19.91 | 146.81 | 94.26 |
| 2. South Korea | £11.88 | 83.9 | 17.62 | 124.39 | 138.45 |
| 3. Norway | £10.38 | 66.49 | 16.71 | 119.47 | 99.88 |
| 4. United States | £9.72 | 41.23 | 10.55 | 134.77 | 51.53 |
| 5. Belgium | £9.66 | 50.52 | 14.85 | 83.93 | 16.92 |
Table 2 highlights the top five countries where it cost the most for 1GB of data
The global average download speed for mobile data is 31.61Mbps, whilst the average upload speed is 11.29Mbps2. Switzerland, which ranks as the country with the most expensive data nearly doubles this speed, meaning you really are getting value for your money. If you were using the mobile data in Switzerland it would take just 2 minutes and 28 seconds to download 1GB of data compared to Israel where it would take 6 minutes and 19 seconds.
Switzerland SIM card
The likes of the US is unfortunately not the same, where the costs remain high whilst the speed is even slower than some of the cheapest countries for data such as Austria and Denmark. why is internet so expensive
The UK’s best broadband provider
As part of the research, Business Fibre has analyzed the UK broadband providers with the highest number of subscribers to determine the number one internet service provider (ISP). BT has over 9 million subscribers, which is the most across all the companies analyzed. However, due to its high cost (£320 for the first year), and only managing to receive a 2.8 star rating for customer satisfaction, customer service and reliability, BT ranks in last place.
With the least amount of users, Zen Internet is highly favoured amongst those that are using it (126,000). The ISP offers its customers an average download speed of 112.2Mbps which they have highly given a 3.6 star rating. Zen Internet is the only broadband service that has a 4 star rating on satisfaction, customer service and reliability which is why it ranks so highly. Virgin Media ranks second followed by Vodafone.
The UK’s best mobile data provider why is internet so expensive
- Vodafone – Ranking in 1st place, Vodafone offers its users over 100 total roaming locations at no additional cost. The provider has been given a 4 star rating from its customers.
- Three – Three’s most expensive sim-only plan costs £24, whilst it’s cheapest plan is priced at £5.00. The network offers 71 roaming locations at no extra cost.
- EE – In third place, EE has 79 5G destinations, which is the most out of the top 10. Users have given the network a 4 star rating and can expect to pay £6 for its cheapest sim-only plan.
Ian Wright, Founder of Business Fibre comments: “The internet is an important part of living in the 21st century and because we spend a great amount of our time using it we are constantly looking for the best speed and price. The results revealed that Israel has the cheapest data but it’s slow download and upload speeds are likely to be the reason for this.
The number of networks and ISP available in the UK can seem endless, although the study shows that Vodafone and Zen Internet are the better options. Different providers tend to be better in differing areas, so it is important you see what is the best fit for your household. “
why is internet so expensive
