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Comment by victor106 | Hacker News Reader

> Positively, I work from home. I have four providers I could get 1Gbps symmetrical, unmetered, business-class FTTH for less than 100,- CHF / month. It's hard to go wrong with that.

I pay 79.99 USD a month for Verizon Fios 1 gbps in nyc. That is before a $200.00 credit. Fios is FTTH. That’s a good 20-25% discount to what you pay in Switzerland.

Plus I heard from several colleagues and friends who are people of color that they faced more racism in Switzerland (and a few European countries) than in the US. I know this is subjective and everyone’s experience is different. But you can’t ignore the fact that the CEO’s of two of the largest tech companies in the US are Indians. I don’t know of any large European companies that are being run by people of color. Maybe they are but I just don’t know.

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I know a Swiss expat living in America who moved here for that exact reason. His wife is Cuban, and they said they felt more at home and accepted in the US after a few months than they did after 10 years of living in Switzerland. They both loved Switzerland, but they cited the insular culture as the primary reason for leaving. His wife just couldn't handle it anymore.

> the insular culture

Anecdotally, this is the reason most people struggle as expats in CH.

Do / can expats just hang out with each other?

Yes, out of necessity I gather. Seemingly typical of most foreign countries with strong expat presence, but Swiss are notoriously insular.

> That’s a good 20-25% discount to what you pay in Switzerland.

I actually pay 60,- CHF, plus a bit extra for a static IP + IPv6. I was saying I have that option for four providers all under 100. :)

> Plus I heard from several colleagues and friends who are people of color that they faced more racism in Switzerland

I can't speak directly to this, since I am not a PoC. What I have observed is the racism that exists appears to be of a different type than is typical in the US. It is more an aversion to outsiders than against a particular class of people. But again, I can't really speak to it since I'm not in the position to be on the receiving end of it. (Everyone thinks I'm Swiss until I open my mouth.)

The CEO of Credit Suisse is a black man from the Ivory Coast.

Not to say that racism doesn't exist in Switzerland but equally you don't see policemen shooting unarmed black people in their houses either.

That's likely attributed more to gun culture than a lack of racism

What is Swiss gun culture like? I know they have one of the highest ownership rates in the world. I was on vacation there a few months ago and was surprised to learn that the government lets you keep your service weapon at the completion of the mandatory military service. Does mandating military service for men make a big impact on gun culture there?

High gun ownership in Switzerland.

That's what obviously the article doesn't mention.

Money is not all, and I know plenty of white people too who could not handle the "arrogant Swiss people", that they had to leave the country.

You can't generalize, I agree, however when you hear more times the same complains from completely different people, you start to wonder if there is not a bit of truth in it, though. I didn't want to add negativity to the post, I just really dislike this sort of articles trying to convince people to do something they might regret.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/11pcs1/while_i_l...

Anecdotal: a friend (filipina) was married to a Dentist in Switzerland. She was generally assumed to be a prostitute or mail order bride.

Needless to say she's struggled to integrate and make friends and the country has forever tainted their experience for the worst.

Meanwhile I pay $80/month for 12Mbs cable from Comcast in Silicon Valley. My only other option is DSL. I'm not going to be moving to Switzerland any time soon, but the internet situation in the US is spotty and inconsistent at best.

20€/month for 1Gbps in France. In big cities only - in smaller cities you might get 200Mbps.

not to turn this into a 1-up session, but 100CHF is an overestimate.

i pay 49.99/mo for 10Gbps symmetric https://fiber.salt.ch/en

Last I checked, Salt is much more shaky with speeds and some of the bandwidth may be shared. With the EWZ municipal fiber in Zurich (served by one of the private companies like the GP mentioned) I get the speeds I pay for all the time. I've heard worse things about Salt, but I won't complain about a better option so I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

Germans face racism in Switzerland

Deutsche Bank used to have an Indian CEO

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anshu_Jain

Most European CEOs/presidents just aren't as well known as the US behemoths.

The CEO of one of the three largest companies in Switzerland is of Indian origin (born in the US to Indian parents, I think).

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