If you buy the same phone from Amazon, without monthly payment plan, it's about right. In most of Europe, where Google doesn't sell it, the price for this phone was about $800 on launch. Google is heavily subsidizing it and the $299 price is just incredibly cheap.

Shady:

> $199.99 After Discounts

> For a limited time, when you purchase a Google Nexus 4 on T-Mobile.com or through 1-877-387-4324, you may qualify for a $300 instant discount and a $50 mail-in rebate card.

Also:

> Supercharge your Nexus 4 by adding unlimited data on a nationwide 4G network, only from T-Mobile

So does that mean LTE was officially activated or is that another marketing ploy?

In the meantime, it's been out of stock since day one here.

T-Mobile is not particularly shady in my experience, just a bit disorganized about Nexus pricing.

T-Mobile is moving toward clearer pricing plans that are more like the rest of the world and much more straightfoward:

http://gigaom.com/2012/12/06/t-mobile-ceo-confirms-the-iphon...

For the lowest cost and most freedom, you can buy the Nexus 4 directly from Google or on Craigslist, eBay, etc.

(I'm not affiliated with T-Mobile in any way; I'm just a customer who buys a lot of Nexus phones)

TMobile has been calling their HSDPA+ network 4G for a while now. LTE on bands supported in the USA is not possible on the device.

"4G" is a meaningless marketing term. The best way to evaluate network quality is to buy the phone, walk around with it and do speed tests for 30 days, and return it if it doesn't meet expectations.

I'm keeping my Verizon Galaxy Nexus for this reason. It may not be the latest and greatest, but it works really well and the data is really fast.

It's very possible that Google subsidizes the cost of Nexus 4s that they sell where T-Mobile does not.