It’s been a long time since Yahoo was one of the top internet properties. But Verizon, which acquired the company a few years back, is slapping the Yahoo name on a new wireless service plan for some reason.

Yahoo Mobile actually looks pretty good on paper. Pay $40 per month and get unlimited talk, text, and 4G mobile data… including tethering. It’s all carried over Verizon’s network. And the service is contract-free, which means you can cancel at any time.

Look a little closer and there are some cracks though. Also, it turns out the service isn’t actually all that new. It’s just got a fresh coat of purple paint.

First, let’s take a look at the fine print:

  • That unlimited data is at 5-12 Mbps speeds, which could be throttled to slower rates “in times of high traffic.”
  • Mobile hotspot is included… but capped at 5 Mbps.
  • You need to sign up for a Yahoo account to use the service (and the company does have a history of suffering from data breaches).
  • This is really just the same service Verizon already offers under the Visible brand.

That said, there are a few nice things about the service — it’s far cheaper than a typical Verizon unlimited plan, you can bring your own phone or buy one from Yahoo Mobile, and your subscription includes a free Yahoo Mail Pro subscription with 1GB of storage, which would normally cost $3.50 per month.

It’s also nice to see an MVNO service that included support for tethering (using your phone as a mobile hotspot for your laptop or other devices), even if speeds are capped.

6/18/2021 Update: Just 15 months after launch, Yahoo Mobile is shutting down, at least in part as a result of Verizon’s decision to sell Yahoo. 

press release

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4 replies on “Verizon’s new Yahoo Mobile wireless plans offer “unlimited” data for $40 per month”

  1. I wish we could get things like this in Canada. Our wireless market is absolutely screwed. The government doesn’t have the teeth needed to take down the monopolies here.

    The closest you get here is Unlimited data for like $120/mo, and the data isn’t truly unlimited, they will throttle your speeds down to like 128kbps after you pass 10gb.

  2. It is interesting that I can potentially pump more data through these lower speed hotspot plans than my cable internet service because of data caps. I deal in a lot of (legal) torrents, which I currently put through a hotspot, easily using about a TB of traffic a month.

    1. Depends on the small print. It’s likely if you tried downloading 1TB of data a month, hotspot or no, your account will be flagged for abuse of service.

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