Verizon thinks it's time to forgive, forget, and subscribe to a new Yahoo Mobile phone service

Publish date: 2024-05-23
Yahoo may have discontinued its once crazy popular instant messaging client and a number of other services and features after the company was acquired by Verizon back in 2017 for less than $4.5 billion, but as insane as it might seem, the nation's largest mobile network operator sees a bright future ahead for the brand.After all, Yahoo Mail still had close to 230 million monthly active users around the world a couple of years ago, despite multiple security breaches that compromised pretty much everyone's data in 2013 and 2014 before all this information came to light in 2016 and 2017.Clearly, Verizon feels enough time has passed to try to revive and expand Yahoo's reach, and there's probably no better place to do that than the US wireless industry Big Red continues to dominate with ease (for now, at least). Enter Yahoo Mobile, a brand-new MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) providing unlimited wireless service on Verizon's 4G LTE infrastructure for the low price of $39.99 a month.

We're talking "unlimited everything", including data, text, and talk, although unsurprisingly, certain restrictions apply. Tethering, for one thing, is limited to one device at a time and capped at 5 Mbps speeds, while data speeds in general are likely to be "temporarily" reduced in "times of traffic." 

Everything else appears to be as straightforward as you expect, with no annual contracts or commitments of any sort required to become a Yahoo Mobile customer, and even ad-free email across all your devices thrown in at no extra charge with 1TB storage also included. 

That service alone, called Yahoo Mail Pro, separately costs $3.49 a month, but it remains to be seen if the freebie will be enough to attract users worried about the reliability of the Yahoo brand. After all, the same $40 a month unlimited everything service is also available from Visible, a Verizon-owned company with a far less tainted brand image. By the way, Yahoo Mobile seems to be selling many of the same devices at the exact same prices as Visible, ranging from a $696 iPhone 11, $984 iPhone 11 Pro, and $1032 iPhone 11 Pro Max to a $720 Samsung Galaxy S10e, $408 Google Pixel 3a, $696 and up Pixel 4, $192 LG Stylo 5, $336 Moto Z4, and $149 ZTE Blade 10 Prime. View Full Bio

Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.

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