I'm not an encyclopedia of AT&T offerings but...

The Nexus 5 is more comparable to the iPhone 5C which AT&T offers for $199 on contract (let's compare 32GB models since Google only charges $50 vs Apple's $100 for the upgrade). At $399 the extra $200 works out to $8 more a month. This is about what I pay monthly to AT&T including fees.

Like I said T-Mobile does a lot of great consumer things. For some people it will be worth it to go with T-Mobile. For others the difference isn't quite so large and in many places the T-Mobile network simply isn't good enough[1].

[1] http://opensignal.com/network-coverage-maps/t-mobile-coverag...

I highly disagree that the N5 is more comparable to the 5C than the 5S [1]. It matches or beats the 5S on almost every single spec.

1. http://www.phonearena.com/phones/compare/Google-Nexus-5,Appl...

The consensus opinion of professional reviews is that the 5s is superior. The Nexus beats the 5s on display but lags the 5s in battery life, camera and build quality. CPU/GPU are comparable. We could continue to list minor features in each phones favor all day but those are the major specs most people care about. If you look at reviews across the board the 5s is a better reviewed phone and the Nexus 5 receives marks around the 5c. Vs the 5c it wins on display and CPU/GPU but loses on battery life, camera and build. It may be better than the 5c but I think it's a closer comparison.

It's not what AT&T offers for the same price. Before I switched to Tmo two months ago, my wife and I had AT&T. Probably the same 23% corporate discount. 500Mb plan for her, grandfathered unlimited data for me, no text plan (Google Voice or iMessage), 700 minutes/month split between the two of us. Total bill (taxes, etc.): $121/month with discount.

Tmo: unlimited everything (well, 5GB of 4G data) with no discount, $140/month. I'll probably knock that to 2.5GB (we don't use that much) and bring it on par with what we paid on AT&T. Additionally, though not directly related to the comparison, we don't have to say "Mother, may I?" for tethering, so we can knock off another $30/month for iPad data.

Steko - I think toomuchtodo is asking if you get unlimited voice/text and a comparable amount of data for that amount of money with AT&T.

And I think my exact point was that is an Apples to oranges comparison. The whole point of the subsidy is you pay more per month and less up front. The whole point of a shitty network is that it doesn't cost as much to maintain.

I'm not talking about subsidies or networks. Just if we're talking about a comparable plan. Comparing an unlimited text/voice plan on TMo to a 500 min plan on AT&T doesn't make for an accurate comparison. You may not like TMo for your purposes, but for most people it works just fine.

Where I live T-Mobile is just as good as AT&T. OTOH I know people in large cities that can't get TM at their house. I'm not a T-Mobile hater, but I think it's important to realize that T-Mobile is not the promised land. There are important reasons why T-Mobile is in 4th place and has been hemorrhaging subscribers. And while it's going to be the best carrier for some people, many others are going to have a bad time.