- Yahoo Mobile is a new mobile phone service from Verizon that costs $39.99 per month.
- The new cell phone service comes with unlimited talk, text, and data, and operates on Verizon’s 4G LTE network, so if you get good service from Verizon, you should also get good service from Yahoo.
- Yahoo Mobile will not throttle your speeds based on your data usage.
- Visit BGR’s homepage for more stories.
Verizon’s decision to buy Yahoo for nearly $5 billion was a bit of a head-scratcher in 2017, but after all these years, it seems that the mobile carrier has finally found a use for the once-popular brand. On Wednesday, Verizon launched a new phone service called Yahoo Mobile, which offers unlimited talk, text, and data for $39.99/month and operates on Verizon’s 4G LTE network. You can visit the Yahoo Mobile website right now and sign up for a plan.
As with many other mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), you can either bring your own device with you over to the new service, or purchase a phone and a plan directly from Yahoo Mobile. The service is currently selling phones from Apple, Samsung, Google, LG, Motorola, and even ZTE, many at a discount.
Guru Gowrappan, CEO of Verizon Media, explained to CNN Business that Yahoo is still a “really trusted brand” and that it will pair well with Verizon, which has “the best network in the United States.” “It’s a customer segment that we have that wants content and wants to interact, so it makes sense to expand it,” he added.
One of the primary concerns with any MVNO is slowdown. The sacrifice that you make for paying a lower price than you would for an unlimited plan directly from Verizon or AT&T or any other major carrier is that their data speeds are often prioritized over your own, but here’s what Yahoo Mobile’s FAQ says:
Do you slow down my connection based on how much data I use? Never. Yahoo Mobile won’t slow you down based on your data usage. However, when the network gets congested, your data could slow down for a bit. But this is common for any person on any carrier.
But then this line in the fine print makes it clear that not all traffic will be treated equally by Verizon:
In times of traffic, your data may be temporarily slower than other traffic. Speeds capped at 5 Mbps and limited to one tethered device at a time.
If you’re willing to put up with these limitations, you can check and see if your device is compatible with Yahoo Mobile on this page. Here are all of the devices Yahoo Mobile says are compatible at launch:
- Apple iPhone 6, 6s, SE, 7, 8, X, XS, XS Max, and XR
- Select iPhone SE and 7 models are incompatible, so to be sure, use the compatibility checker
- Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ SE double check by submitting your IMEI to our compatibility checker
- Google Pixel 3, 3a, 3XL, and 3aXL
- Motorola G7 Power
Finally, if you do opt to sign up, you’ll also get an ad-free Yahoo Mail Pro account across all of your devices for no additional charge. Yahoo Mobile will be compatible with more devices in the future, and Gowrappan says that more plans could be introduced in the next year as well to suit a wider range of consumers.
