Yahoo Mobile's $40 unlimited plan seems like a great value, but here's why you shouldn't sign up
Yahoo Mobile is a prepaid carrier that first launched in March, 2020. The Yahoo brand was purchased by Verizon back in June, 2017 for $4.48 billion, and as you'd expect Verizon owns and operates Yahoo Mobile too.
Yahoo Mobile offers one plan: unlimited talk, text, and data for $40 per month. All taxes and fees are included. The plan also included a subscription to Yahoo Mail Pro for free, a $34.99 value, that gives users an ad-free Yahoo Mail experience.
In the prepaid landscape, unlimited data for $40 per month is an excellent deal. Yahoo Mobile's features are decent too. They include unlimited hotspot data, VoLTE, Wi-Fi calling, MMS, and visual voicemail. Hotspot data speeds are capped at 5Mbps, which is plenty fast for most users, and you are limited to connecting only one device at a time.
Now you're probably thinking, wait, this plan sounds great! Why should I not sign up for it?
Why you shouldn't sign up for Yahoo Mobile
Yahoo Mobile's plan sounds great because it is great! But…it also sounds extremely familiar.
If you recall, Verizon launched a $40 unlimited plan under a carrier called Visible way back in 2018. And here's the thing: Yahoo Mobile's plan is the exact same plan as Visible. We're not talking about just the same features at the same price either… were talking about the exact same plan.
In the third sentence of Yahoo Mobile's terms and conditions page, it reads, "Your Yahoo Mobile Service is provided by Visible Service LLC".
That's right. Visible is literally providing Yahoo Mobile with the same plan. Except, there are two key differences:
- Yahoo Mobile includes Yahoo Mail Pro (Visible does not)
- Visible offers a group discount where you can pay as low as $25/month
And reason #2 is the entire reason Yahoo Mobile isn’t worth it. Instead of paying $40 per month from Yahoo Mobile, you can get the same plan from Visible for just $25/month. This saves you $180 per year. That's enough to buy Yahoo Mail Pro and still save money!
How Visible Party Pay Works
Visible calls their group discount Visible Party Pay. We have a full article that explains how Visible Party Pay works, but here's what you need to know for now:
Visible Party Pay let's you create a group, called a "Party," where you can add up to 4 lines. Each line you add gives everyone in the party a discount. Two lines gives each person a $5 discount. Three lines gives each person a $10 discount. And the maximum, four lines, gives each person a $15 discount. Having four lines in your Party brings the total cost of the service down to just $25 per line, and this still includes all taxes and fees.
The best part about Party Pay is that each line is handled as its own separate Visible account. This means that you can safely create and join parties with other Visible customers you meet online. In fact, there is an entire subreddit called /r/VisiblePartyPay dedicated to helping people create and fill Visible groups!
If you're interested in Visible, check out our guide on how to sign up for Visible and keep your existing phone number.
So that's Yahoo Mobile and why it's not worth it. Quite simply, Visible offers the exact same plan at a cheaper price. We hope this article helps you make a more informed decision about which cell phone plan to sign up for and that you’re able to save money on your cell phone bill.
