AT&T Wireless vs. T-Mobile Review

Here’s a cost-saving tip—you can get the same reliable cellular coverage as you would from AT&T or T-Mobile when you sign up for a much cheaper wireless plan through an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator). MVNO carriers operate over the same cellular towers, but let you save big with a simpler plan.

Looking for a T-Mobile plan? Go for Mint Mobile—our pick for the best prepaid carrier that gets you unlimited data, mobile hotspot access, and 40GB of premium 5G data for just $30 a month, and you have the option to get plans for as low as $15 a month. That’s a serious bargain from Mint, considering it gives you access to the country's fastest and most widely available 5G network.

Need an AT&T plan? Try Boost Mobile—lock in Boost's $25 Unlimited plan with a forever price lock. Or, if you don't need unlimited data, pay as little as $15 a month for unlimited talk and text, and you save even more if you pay 12 months upfront for a long-term plan.

Before we dive into the details, here are a few tips on how to choose the perfect plan.

• Data: Your phone is a lot less smart when you run out of 4G LTE/5G data. Get a plan with a data cap high enough to support all your streaming and scrolling.
• Price: Make sure you’re not overpaying for your cell phone plan by checking comparison tools like the tables we use in this article.
• Coverage: Peep these coverage maps to see how different networks look in your area. Be sure to consider both 4G and 5G coverage.
• Perks: There are perks, like mobile hotspot data, that may be essential for some customers. Others, like a free Max subscription, are just a nice bonus. Check the fine print to make sure your plan has all the features you need.

T-Mobile and AT&T are two of three big names in the mobile industry (Verizon being the other one). They have a ton to offer, but we’re going to focus on their most popular—and best—offerings here: unlimited data plans.

Both companies have three flagship unlimited plans that can be categorized into three tiers. We’ll look at all three tiers and figure out which company offers a better plan in each one.

The main reason we’re not looking at T-Mobile and AT&T’s limited data plans is because they’re just not that great. They offer less than the unlimited plans and cost more than similar plans from competitors. If you want a great prepaid plan or limited data plan, we suggest checking out these phone carriers.

We’ll begin with the cheapest and least powerful cell phone plans. These are the basic models, without any bells and whistles. You’ll get unlimited talk, text, and data, but not much else. And without burying the lead, T-Mobile's plan is cheaper and offers more data (more on that in a second).

And if you're unsure about how much data you actually need, we’ve written up a guide to cell phone data to help you figure out your data habits, and how to find a perfect plan that gives you everything you need.

Check out the first-tier options for yourself right here.

T-Mobile's Essentials plan and AT&T's Unlimited Starter^® SL plan are very similar, but T-Mobile comes out ahead of AT&T. Both plans get you access to the fastest mobile network of 5G. Both come with a throttle on video quality (at 480p). However, where T-Mobile offers 50GB of priority data, AT&T's plan has a major drawback: data deprioritization.

With a deprioritized data plan, your speeds will always be subject to slowdowns. Basically, when the network gets busy, you get kicked to the back of the line. Those who pay for pricier plans will still see 4G/5G data speeds in the 20-40 Mbps range, while yours can drop as low as 3-5 Mbps, making it hard to stream and even load web pages.

So, if you need reliable high-speed data, choose T-Mobile's Essentials Saver plan for 50GB of high-speed data before data speeds are prioritized. (It doesn't hurt that T-Mobile's plan is also $15 cheaper than AT&T's.)

In this middle tier we’ve got Go5G and Unlimited Extra^® EL plans. With these middle-tier plans, the constant risk of deprioritization is replaced by soft data caps. 

This brings us to the biggest difference between T-Mobile and AT&T’s mid-tier plans: the Go5G plan gives you a full 100GB of high-speed 4G/5G data, and the Unlimited Extra^® EL plan gives you just 75GB. That’s not a trivial difference, and their prices are barely a dollar apart.

Take a look at the plans for yourself here.

T-Mobile's plan comes with 15GB of high-speed mobile hotspot data, while AT&T offers double that, giving you 30GB of hotspot data. But T-Mobile has an edge when it comes to perks, giving you six free months of Apple TV+.

Despite T-Mobile's perks, choosing between these two plans, since their prices are so similar, depends on whether users need more than 15GB of hotspot data.

5G is the next generation of mobile technology, offering increased data speeds. But not all 5G is created equal. Some networks use “high-band” or “millimeter-wave” technology, while others use “low-band” technology.

High-band 5G can get to speeds of 100+ Mbps (probably faster than your home internet), while low-band 5G is only slightly faster than 4G data speeds. AT&T’s 5G network is almost all low-band, while T-Mobile has a mix of low and high-wave technology.

If you’re sick of running out of high-speed data in the middle of a Zoom meeting or a game of Fortnite Mobile then it might be time to upgrade to one of these top-tier plans.

Both the Go5G Plus and Unlimited Premium^® PL plans come with truly unlimited talk, text, and high-speed data, no deprioritization, throttling, or data caps. Check it out.

Obviously, the biggest perk of upgrading to these plans is the truly unlimited high-speed data. In fact, Go5G Plus and Unlimited Premium^® PL are two of only three plans in the entire industry that we know are offering unlimited priority data with no soft data cap. So, if you’re a data hog, then get it while you can!

There are a few other features of note in these two powerful plans. The AT&T plan offers 4K streaming, but its perks are more limited compared to T-Mobile. The T-Mobile plan gives you a free Netflix and Apple TV+ subscription and also access to weekly discounts and prizes with its T-Mobile Tuesdays app. 

If you think these plans seem nearly identical, you’re right. They both offer truly unlimited data and a ton of hotspot data: 50GB with Go5G Plus and 60GB with Unlimited Premium^® PL. While T-Mobile has a slight edge regarding perks by offering free streaming subscriptions and weekly Tuesday perks, AT&T is $4 less. So it really comes down to other factors when choosing which plan is right for you.

Fact #1: You want to save money on your phone bill. Fact#2: The best way to save money on your phone bill is to get a family plan. It’s that simple. So, how are T-Mobile and AT&T’s family plans?

Both companies offer significant savings on unlimited data plans when you add lines, but T-Mobile’s discounts are better at every level. Check out this chart showing the prices for different unlimited data family plans with four lines.

Those prices might look high (more than $100 for a phone plan!), but when you break down the savings it’s kind of ridiculous.

For example, if you get four lines on the Go5G or Magenta plan it will cut the cost of each line in half! Instead of paying $300 for four separate lines, you’ll pay just $155 for a family plan with four lines. Nice.

AT&T’s family plan deals are also awesome, even if they cost a bit more. So, no matter which phone carrier you decide to go with, we suggest adding additional lines.

Other than the cost savings, these plans are basically exactly the same as the individual plans we covered in detail above.

In some cases, you’ll get additional perks (like a free Netflix, Hulu, and Apple TV+ subscription on T-Mobile Essentials when you have 2+ lines), but these are minor details.

We’ll cut to the chase here: T-Mobile’s data speeds are the fastest in the industry. This is true for both 4G LTE and 5G networks. Here’s a peek at the data.

According to our own speed tests from over 100,000 mobile customers, T-Mobile is comfortably in first place. AT&T comes in third (or last place), well behind Verizon Wireless.

While AT&T customers shouldn’t have a major issue with basic functions—like streaming, scrolling, and browsing—they might notice more significant lag during times of deprioritization. As well, they might have a harder time streaming HD and 4K video than T-Mobile customers.

When it comes to 5G data speeds, we’ll rely on the latest 5G User Experience Report from OpenSignal. It states that, “for the first time, T-Mobile wins Opensignal's award for 5G Download Speed.

Our T-Mobile users saw average 5G download speeds of 58.1 Mbps ahead of AT&T's score of 53.8 Mbps and Verizon on 47.4 Mbps.”¹

In short, if you care about having crystal clear HD streaming, lag-free gaming, and seamless Facetime video, then T-Mobile is the carrier for you.

As you can see, AT&T has towers all over the country, with the exception of some gaps in New Mexico, Arizona, Idaho, and other super rural areas. Now let’s compare that to T-Mobile.

Yep, those coverage deserts are a lot bigger on T-Mobile’s map. But, if we’re being totally honest, most people don’t live in (or even visit) those areas. And in all major metropolitan areas, T-Mobile’s coverage is just fine.

Now, look back at those coverage maps and click only the box at the bottom that says “5G”. All of a sudden T-Mobile’s coverage looks a lot better, right? The company has a clear edge when it comes to 5G network infrastructure.

We wish we had a rosy story about how we called T-Mobile and AT&T and they were so helpful. But, if we’re being honest, that’s not usually how it goes. Both companies (and the mobile industry as a whole) have issues when it comes to customer service.

It can be hard to get a hold of a real human being, and once you do they may spend more energy trying to upsell you on a new plan than on actually helping you with your issue (I speak from personal experience).

So, this is one category where both companies could improve.

That said, if you do need to contact AT&T or T-Mobile about an issue, these are the best ways to do it.

T-Mobile customer service

• Call 1-800-937-8997
• Tag @TMobileHelp on Twitter
• Visit t-mobile.com/customers/customer-care
• Use the T-Mobile app for iOS or Android

AT&T customer service

• Call 1-800-331-0500
• Tag @ATTCares on Twitter
• Visit att.com/support/
• Post in a community forum

We’ve spent years tracking the prices and performance of all the major carriers, including AT&T and T-Mobile. For this review we dove deep into the current data so that we could compare these two carriers on nearly every metric.

We used our own proprietary data from over 100,000 customers to evaluate 4G speeds and we used the latest OpenSignal report to rate 5G speeds. Along with this data, we used our hands-on experience and publicly available plan information to evaluate AT&T and T-Mobile.

We appreciate you putting your trust in our analysis and recommendations, and we would love to hear any feedback you have for us in the comment section below.