Last year Yahoo and its parent company Verizon launched a low-cost wireless service called Yahoo Mobile. Pay $40 per month and you’d get unlimited cellular data (at speeds up to 12 Mbps) plus a free Yahoo Mail Pro subscription.
Now, just 15 months after launching, Yahoo Mobile is shutting down.
According to Yahoo Mobile, the service is being shut down because Verizon is selling Yahoo (and AOL) to a private equity firm, and with no formal relationship between the Yahoo and Verizon brands, Yahoo Mobile will effectively disappear.
I have to imagine that if the service had been popular enough, the two companies would have found a way to make it work – it’s pretty common for an MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) to be an independent company that operates on a larger carrier’s network. My Google Fi service plan works on T-Mobile’s network, for example, but it’s not like T-Mobile owns Google.
Anyway, Yahoo Mobile says it’s basically shutting down by the end of August. Customers will be able to “renew their membership for one additional month after June 16, which means that if your billing cycle renews on July 1st, for example, your service will end on August 1st. By August 31st, the entire Yahoo Mobile service “will be shut off completely.”
That gives existing customers a month or two to find an alternative. Yahoo Mobile suggests switching to Visible, another Verizon-owned pre-paid, budget wireless carrier that has plans starting at $40 for individuals or $25 for a “party” plan with four or more people.
Other MVNOs that can use Verizon’s network include Straight Talk, Ting, Xfinity Mobile, and US Mobile.
Starting at $40 doesn’t sound like a good deal at all.
it was never a real company just a reskinned Visible