AT&T vs. Metro by T-Mobile: Can AT&T still compete?

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  AT&T

  Vast nationwide coverage

  AT&T is one of the first names in telecommunication for a reason, with a massive LTE and 5G network, including some of the best rural coverage. AT&T has four unlimited postpaid plans with plenty of data for most families and excellent savings for teachers, military members, and more.

  Pros

  • Fast unlimited data on most plans
  • Full 5G access on all unlimited plans
  • Extra savings for military members, veterans, teachers, nurses, physicians, and more

  Cons

  • Taxes and fees are extra
  • SD streaming only on most plans
  • AT&T 5G is still behind T-Mobile

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  Metro by T-Mobile

  Ultra-fast 5G coverage

  Get T-Mobile 5G for less with Metro by T-Mobile’s unlimited plans. Metro’s plans also come with multiline discounts and include taxes and fees, making it easy to know exactly what your bill will be. You can even save on T-Mobile 5G Home Internet when you join Metro.

  Pros

  • Low prices for unlimited data
  • Taxes and fees included
  • BYOD and new device savings available

  Cons

  • No HD streaming on any plan
  • All plans deprioritized at 35GB

The reasons for choosing AT&T in years past were clear, with a highly performant LTE network and some of the best rural coverage. But recently, T-Mobile’s network, and its prepaid carriers, have become much more compelling. Obviously, Metro by T-Mobile plans are priced lower than AT&T’s postpaid options, but may not be the right fit for everyone with no premium data, standard definition streaming, and fewer international options.

Both carriers offer discounts for those that bring multiple lines, so you can save by taking the whole family along. While AT&T’s plans are generally more expensive, if you’re in the military, a veteran, a nurse, a doctor, or even a teacher, you can get discounts on AT&T service. And if you have discounts available, the price can get a lot closer, but for most people, Metro comes out ahead in terms of value for money.

Mobile carrier features

As one of the Big Three carriers, AT&T has full control over its network, so it can offer some nice perks with its service. For one thing, all unlimited AT&T plans come with unlimited usage in Mexico and Canada. You can get a $5 Mexico and Canada add-on with Metro by T-Mobile if you need usage in those countries.

AT&T Unlimited Extra EL and Unlimited Premium PL plans also come with premium data, which is data set at a higher priority. On AT&T’s plan page, premium data has been relabeled as high-speed data but works the same way. If you burn through all the high-speed data, you don’t get a specific speed cap, but your data may simply be slower during heavy network congestion.

Streaming video quality is limited to just SD quality on Metro and most AT&T plans, but AT&T Unlimited Premium PL gets full 4K streaming speeds. It’s worth noting that a VPN can be used to bypass these speed limits much of the time, though some streaming services don’t work right while connected to a VPN. If you want HD video on Metro, you can enable it with an add-on for $10 per month.

AT&T gives customers full 5G access no matter which plan they’re on, so there’s no need to sign up for the top plan to receive mid-band or high-band 5G networks, unlike Verizon. Metro by T-Mobile similarly gets full access to T-Mobile’s 5G network, with full speed on the mid-band network.

One thing to note is that Metro by T-Mobile can slow your data if you use more than 35GB before the end of the month. This only occurs if the network is congested, so you may not even notice if you exceed this limit.

If you’re a Metro by T-Mobile customer, you can get T-Mobile 5G Home Internet for $50 per month with equipment costing just $25. Similarly, AT&T customers can save $20 per month on AT&T’s internet, be it fiber, 5G, or LTE.

Coverage and reception

AT&T’s LTE network is something to behold, with excellent coverage across the entire country, with some of the best rural coverage available. AT&T has been working on its own 5G network and has achieved strong coverage with its low-band nationwide 5G network, but its mid-band 5G roll out is still very much in progress.

That being said, AT&T mid-band, called 5G+, has made its way to many cities and towns across the country, as you can see on AT&T’s coverage map. AT&T’s nationwide 5G offers LTE-like speeds for the most part, which is fine for most people, but if you want higher speeds, you’ll need to wait for towers to be upgraded. Or, switch to T-Mobile.

T-Mobile’s 5G network is the largest in the country and is consistently the fastest 5G network in Ookla’s Market Analyses, as well as in user-driven maps like CoverageMap. All of this means that Metro by T-Mobile customers should experience excellent speeds on average as long as they have a phone with mid-band 5G support. However, you may see a few more dead zones if you live in the country.

AT&T uses band n5 for its nationwide coverage, plus some shared spectrum from its LTE bands, with band n77 for mid-band coverage. For mmWave, AT&T uses band n260, though most customers should focus on low-band and mid-band coverage. T-Mobile uses band n71 for nationwide 5G coverage with band n41 used for mid-band coverage. T-Mobile also has bands n260 and n261 for mmWave coverage in some cities. Most T-Mobile 5G coverage will be on the n41 band and may get some help from T-Mobile’s other bands, like n25 and n66 for 5G carrier aggregation.

Phone compatibility

With both AT&T and Metro by T-Mobile, phone compatibility is very strong. Both carriers accept a wide range of phones, including some international models. While most phones will work on AT&T just fine, some features like visual voicemail may require a specific model. Luckily, AT&T maintains a list of currently approved models and includes some models you may not expect, like the Nothing Phone 2 and OnePlus 12R.

If you’re ready for a new phone, AT&T sells the most popular models, including Androids and iPhones. These phones can be purchased outright, but AT&T will give you a discount for paying over 36 months. The catch is that you need to stay signed up with the carrier to get these savings, and you need to stay on one of the carrier’s more expensive plans to get the best deal. For example, new and existing customers can get up to $1,000 off a Galaxy S24+ with an Unlimited Extra plan or higher if paid over 36 months. You can also trade in an older phone for another discount.

Metro by T-Mobile also sells phones but sticks to cheaper devices. You can still get a decent phone, like the Galaxy A54 5G or a Moto G Stylus 5G, but if you want a high-end flagship phone, you’ll need to bring it with you. Luckily, some of the best Android phones are available, like the Galaxy S24 Ultra, OnePlus 12, or Google Pixel 8 Pro with payment plans directly from the manufacturer. But you’ll also be able to bring the phone with you to another carrier without paying it off if you find a better value data plan down the line.

Plans

While the network and coverage are important to the user experience on any carrier, the most important thing is ensuring the pricing is right. AT&T’s prices are generally higher than Metro by T-Mobile but are a lot more reasonable with multiple lines and with any potential discounts applied. Unfortunately for AT&T, Metro by T-Mobile also has multiline discounts and bakes its taxes and fees into the advertised monthly price, so what you see is what you get. AT&T also requires you to use paperless billing and turn on Auto-pay to get its advertised prices.

AT&T’s plans

AT&T has a wide range of postpaid plans with the first (and cheapest) plan costing $50 per month for the first line. This 4GB plan isn’t a great value to most people with a smartphone, with a small amount of data and a fairly high price. While this plan could still be plenty of data for many people, you must remember that Metro by T-Mobile’s 5GB plan is $20 cheaper with taxes and fees included. At least this AT&T plan comes down to $40 per line if you bring three or more with you.

For just $0.99 more, you can get AT&T Value Plus VL, which is one of its best value plans. This unlimited data plan doesn’t get any premium data but has full 5G access with no data cap in sight. This plan starts at $50.99 for the first line but comes down quickly to just $30.99 with four or more lines.

AT&T Unlimited Starter SL is the next step up, at $65.99 for the first line. Like Value Plus VL, it comes with unlimited data, none of which is premium, but gets an upgrade to 5GB of high-speed hotspot data per line. With four lines, the price comes down to $35.99 per line and with another line, it’s a match for Value Plus VL at $30.99 per line.

Many people will look at Unlimited Extra EL as a starting point since, for many of AT&T’s phone discounts, you’ll need to sign up for this plan. This plan gets 75GB of high-speed premium data plus 30GB of hotspot data per line per month. While AT&T ActiveArmor with spam call blocking is available on all plans, this plan gets an upgrade to ActiveArmor Advanced with features like identity monitoring and a VPN for public Wi-Fi. This plan is expensive, at $75.99 for the first line, but comes down to $40.99 per line with four lines.

Finally, AT&T Unlimited Premium PL takes it up a notch with its premium data and an increase to 60GB of high-speed hotspot data. Video streaming quality is unlocked to 4K, so you can get crystal clear video on your phone. This plan also comes with unlimited usage in 20 Latin American countries. At $85.99 for the first line, this plan is pricey, but if you bring four lines, it reduces to $50.99 per line per month.

All AT&T’s unlimited plans come with full 5G access, unlimited usage in Mexico and Canada, and unlimited texting to 200+ countries. AT&T has a range of discounts, including military, veterans, teachers, physicians, and more. There’s also the Signature Program member discount if your employer is a member. The discount applies to all lines on your plan, so if you’re eligible, don’t forget to get all the savings you deserve.

Remember that taxes and fees are extra with AT&T, so your final cost will be a bit higher than the advertised plan price. Also, remember that you need to enable paperless billing and auto-pay to get AT&T’s best rates.

Metro by T-Mobile’s plans

Since it’s a prepaid carrier, T-Mobile keeps the pricing of the best Metro by T-Mobile plans a lot simpler than AT&T. The cheapest Metro by T-Mobile is its only limited data plan with the 5GB plan. At $30 per month, this plan is a good cheap option for lighter users. It doesn’t get any multiline discounts, but its low price could still make it a good option for many.

Next up, Metro’s $40 Unlimited plan is basic with no hotspot but could be exactly what many people are looking for. Its multiline savings aren’t huge, with four lines coming in at $25 per line, but still a nice discount for those bringing the family. It does, at least, come with a year of VIX Premium, a Spanish-language video streaming service.

The $50 plan adds 8GB of hotspot data and a 100GB Google One membership. Google One is great for backing up phone files and is a nice addition for most people. Even if you have an iPhone, you can get a lot of use from Google One. This plan gets some multiline discounts, and if you bring four lines, it comes down to just $35 per line.

Metro’s most expensive plan is it’s $60 Unlimited. This plan gets bumped up to 25GB of hotspot data and also comes with unlimited texting to 210+ countries. With four lines, it comes in at around $38 per line. If you’re looking for a lot of high-speed hotspot data, this could be the right plan for you.

Metro by T-Mobile has a lot of discounts available for new customers that you may want to consider, especially if you need phones. For example, you can get four lines for $100 per month, with four Galaxy A15 5G phones. Looking to bring your own phone? There’s a deal to get data for $25 per month when you bring your phone to Metro.

Don’t forget you’ll need to enable auto-pay at Metro to save $5 per month on your plan.

Which should you get?

Both AT&T and Metro by T-Mobile offer good options for those looking for unlimited data, but overall Metro by T-Mobile comes out on top in terms of value. Most of Metro’s plans offer unlimited data for less than AT&T’s plans, and thanks to T-Mobile’s 5G coverage, should come with plenty of speed. It’s also nice that Metro by T-Mobile includes the taxes and fees in the plan’s cost, so you can get a better idea of what you’ll need to pay upfront.

For most people, Metro’s cheapest unlimited plan makes the most sense at $40 for the first line. If you don’t need hotspot data, you get all you need with plenty of data for streaming, messaging, browsing social media, or even downloading large games. If you bring four lines, you can get service for $100 per month, a price no AT&T plan can match, even before tax.

AT&T can still be a good value for some heavy users. AT&T’s bigger plans come with premium data that can keep your speeds high in congested areas, for example. The carrier also offers some nice perks for those who travel, such as usage in Mexico and Canada on all plans, 60GB of hotspot data to use with your other devices, and even a VPN for public Wi-Fi with AT&T Active Armor Advanced.