What just happened? Yahoo parent company Verizon Media on Wednesday announced a new wireless service that looks to capitalize on consumers' familiarity with the Internet pioneer.
Yahoo Mobile, powered by Verizon's nationwide network, affords unlimited talk, text and data, unlimited mobile hotspots in which you can connect a single device to at a time, ad-free e-mail with Yahoo Mail Pro and 24/7 customer service, all for $39.99 per month.
As is the case with most other carriers, Yahoo / Verizon reserve the right to slow data speeds when the network is congested. Furthermore, mobile hotspot speeds are capped at 5 Mbps.
The price isn't bad but if you're thinking this all sounds a bit familiar, well... you'd be right. Yahoo Mobile appears to be little more than a rebranding of Visible, another mobile service operated by Verizon. The two offerings utilize nearly identical websites - heck, Yahoo Mobile even offers insurance coverage through Visible Protect.
Verizon, if you recall, purchased Yahoo a few years back for $4.48 billion after scooping up another web pioneer - AOL - for $4.4 billion in 2015. The acquisitions were an obvious misstep, one that forced Verizon to write down $4.6 billion in late 2018. It's clear that Verizon is still trying to capitalize on the Yahoo brand name but a late-to-the-game mobile service probably isn't the answer.
Yahoo Mobile is available as of writing for users in the US and is compatible with both Android and iOS devices.