Yahoo on Thursday said that it was discontinuing its Yahoo Plus service, a bundle of offerings including a broadband-optimized portal, extra storage for mail, photos and other data, premium video content, ad-free radio and online security services. The service, which cost $5.95 a month or $47.40 a year, will be discontinued beginning April 23, the company said in an e-mail sent to customers Wednesday.
"We are discontinuing our Yahoo Plus service as part of our ongoing commitment to focus on businesses that are core to our future growth," a company spokeswoman said in an e-mail on Thursday. "We always listen to our users and assess which businesses it makes the most sense for Yahoo to operate in and it has become clear that Plus was not an essential service for Yahoo users." Yahoo has a frequently asked questions page with more information.
As a loyal Yahoo! Plus user, I will miss it dearly.
Or will I? No. No, I don't think I will miss it come to think of it. I won't miss it at all. In fact, now that I've thought about it some more, I don't really understand why it was launched in the first place.
Haha! (and a word about their customer disservice)
That's pretty funny.
Speaking of Yahoo, what's the deal with their customer service? It's horrible. I use their "Mail Plus" service, and a while back my account was trashed for a week. I couldn't login via the web, couldn't POP in, couldn't send, you name it. Mail that was sent to my address was bouncing and there was nothing I could do. I contacted Yahoo via their technical support contact form, which of course was useless. I don't think they read those e-mails, or they're so swamped with trouble e-mails that they don't respond.
Anyway, in my frustration I decided to call Yahoo to ask them why my *premium* account was trashed. I couldn't find their technical support number, so I had to go to the Yahoo corporate "About Us" page, call their main number, and then navigate my way through their IVR system to get to the technical support group. I finally got somebody on the phone and asked them why my account was no longer. They were friendly, but not really helpful. I was transferred to a level two technical support person who also tried to help.
A week later my account was restored. I received no word on what happened, why it happened, or how it could be prevented from happening again. Even more frustrating, I was not given any sort of refund for this "premium" mail service for which I paid. It's a good thing that I don't do business with that particular account because if I did, that would be a week of business e-mail communications lost. That would have been very costly and extremely inconvenient.
Maybe Yahoo should focus on servicing their existing customers instead of figuring out more ways they can separate more people from their money.
While Yahoo's press release indicates they are cancelling the Yahoo Plus service the truth is more underhanded. In Yahoos message to current subscribers they indicate that the services currently provided under Yahoo Plus will continue if you switch to AT&T or Verizon for your ISP.
If I don't switch my internet service to AT&T or Verizon I will loose access to the several Gigs of high-resolution photos I have stored under my Yahoo Plus account. (I will only be able to download low resolution photos.) Given that it is impossible for me to download all my photos prior to the forced cancellation of my Yahoo Plus account, Yahoo has considerable leverage to force me to switch ISPs.
I believe this practice of forced bundling is anticompetitive and (arguably) illegal under the Sherman Act.
If you want to join me in challenging Yahoos actions please send me an email at jthurley@yahoo.com.
Well the day has come and past, and guess what? Just as I thought, I still have Y! plus. Two things tipped me off that this was possible a fake news story.
1. Yahoo! would let Plus users know at the same time, if not earlier that the press if they were canceling the service.
2. The "help" page on Yahoo! lookes suspicously different, IMO.
Does anyone know the real reason behind this story. Especially since, news.com PCWorld, etc. actually reported it as being a legit story?
Yahoo AddressGuard OUGHT to be enabled for ALL yahoo webmail customers at zero cost.
Yahoo is OCD obsessed with reducing spam. A well educated userbase employing Disposable Email Address which is what AddressGuard is in essence will go a LONG way to reducing unwanted email. As most unwanted email is generated when an entity's "privacy policy" changes which is VERY likely as they all have a clause essentially claiming "we will respect your privacy until we decide otherwise and we cannot be bothered to inform you".
Create one addressguard yahoo email address for EACH site one registers with, and for EACH purchase transaction. It is far simpler to delete an address guard email than it is to discontinue using a primary yahoo email address, registering for a new one, and re-notifying all contacts.
Simply have one yahoo address for signups and the like AND NEVER share the underlying yahoo id but ONLY provide address guard email addresses.
Now if only yahoo would stop TORMENTING the innocent who send webmail via yahoo authentication using yahoo's own RICH TEXT / HTML compose interface with INANE CAPCHAE.
gay
spammers are not going to toy with the compose pane in yahoo webmail
the capchae "counter measure" is crentinously defective "thinking".
STOP
It pisses me off so much I have created a gmail account despite loathing gmail. Google NEVER EVER prompts me to enter a captcha to send marked up email via gmail webmail.
Get a FRACKING clue yahoo
P.S. yahoo should offer free IMAP and not only via their proprietary windows client
yahoo could gain some serious ground against gmail by FULLY implementing TMDA -- an Open Source project
Tagged Message Delivery Agent (TMDA)
technical countermeasures include:
* whitelists: accept mail from known, trusted senders.
* blacklists: refuse mail from undesired senders.
* challenge/response: allows unknown senders which aren't on the whitelist or blacklist the chance to confirm that their message is legitimate (non-spam).
* tagged addresses: special-purpose e-mail addresses such as time-dependent addresses, or addresses which only accept certain kinds of communication. These increase the transparency of TMDA for unknown senders by allowing them to safely circumvent the challenge/response system.
This combination was chosen based on the following assumptions about the current state of spam on the Internet:
1. You cannot keep your email address secret from spammers.
2. Content-based filters can't distinguish spam from legitimate mail with sufficient accuracy.
3. To maintain economies of scale, bulk-mailing is generally: * An impersonal process where the recipient is not distinguished. * A one-way communication channel (from spammer to victim).
4. spam will not cease until it becomes prohibitively expensive for spammers to operate.
Web giant is spending $120 million to beef up its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, according to filings with the city reviewed by the San Jose Mercury News.
The Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 S6500 could make its debut at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month, according to a leaked promotional image.
MIT creates a simulation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Spacewar. A relic of the early days of minicomputers, it was one of the first computer video games and set the stage for many others, including Asteroids.
Or will I? No. No, I don't think I will miss it come to think of it. I won't miss it at all. In fact, now that I've thought about it some more, I don't really understand why it was launched in the first place.
Speaking of Yahoo, what's the deal with their customer service? It's horrible. I use their "Mail Plus" service, and a while back my account was trashed for a week. I couldn't login via the web, couldn't POP in, couldn't send, you name it. Mail that was sent to my address was bouncing and there was nothing I could do. I contacted Yahoo via their technical support contact form, which of course was useless. I don't think they read those e-mails, or they're so swamped with trouble e-mails that they don't respond.
Anyway, in my frustration I decided to call Yahoo to ask them why my *premium* account was trashed. I couldn't find their technical support number, so I had to go to the Yahoo corporate "About Us" page, call their main number, and then navigate my way through their IVR system to get to the technical support group. I finally got somebody on the phone and asked them why my account was no longer. They were friendly, but not really helpful. I was transferred to a level two technical support person who also tried to help.
A week later my account was restored. I received no word on what happened, why it happened, or how it could be prevented from happening again. Even more frustrating, I was not given any sort of refund for this "premium" mail service for which I paid. It's a good thing that I don't do business with that particular account because if I did, that would be a week of business e-mail communications lost. That would have been very costly and extremely inconvenient.
Maybe Yahoo should focus on servicing their existing customers instead of figuring out more ways they can separate more people from their money.
I am a Verizon Yahoo customer, and value the features Plus offered (larger mailbox, POP3 yahoo mail, more launchcast stations).
Verizon CS didn't even know of this change. Does anyone out there have more information?
If I don't switch my internet service to AT&T or Verizon I will loose access to the several Gigs of high-resolution photos I have stored under my Yahoo Plus account. (I will only be able to download low resolution photos.) Given that it is impossible for me to download all my photos prior to the forced cancellation of my Yahoo Plus account, Yahoo has considerable leverage to force me to switch ISPs.
I believe this practice of forced bundling is anticompetitive and (arguably) illegal under the Sherman Act.
If you want to join me in challenging Yahoos actions please send me an email at jthurley@yahoo.com.
hope you learned an important life lesson... and hopefully it wasn't too painful
you do have backups on a sensible medium, yes?
1. Yahoo! would let Plus users know at the same time, if not earlier that the press if they were canceling the service.
2. The "help" page on Yahoo! lookes suspicously different, IMO.
Does anyone know the real reason behind this story. Especially since, news.com PCWorld, etc. actually reported it as being a legit story?
Yahoo AddressGuard OUGHT to be enabled for ALL yahoo webmail customers at zero cost.
Yahoo is OCD obsessed with reducing spam. A well educated userbase employing Disposable Email Address which is what AddressGuard is in essence will go a LONG way to reducing unwanted email. As most unwanted email is generated when an entity's "privacy policy" changes which is VERY likely as they all have a clause essentially claiming "we will respect your privacy until we decide otherwise and we cannot be bothered to inform you".
Create one addressguard yahoo email address for EACH site one registers with, and for EACH purchase transaction. It is far simpler to delete an address guard email than it is to discontinue using a primary yahoo email address, registering for a new one, and re-notifying all contacts.
Simply have one yahoo address for signups and the like AND NEVER share the underlying yahoo id but ONLY provide address guard email addresses.
Now if only yahoo would stop TORMENTING the innocent who send webmail via yahoo authentication using yahoo's own RICH TEXT / HTML compose interface with INANE CAPCHAE.
gay
spammers are not going to toy with the compose pane in yahoo webmail
the capchae "counter measure" is crentinously defective "thinking".
STOP
It pisses me off so much I have created a gmail account despite loathing gmail. Google NEVER EVER prompts me to enter a captcha to send marked up email via gmail webmail.
Get a FRACKING clue yahoo
P.S. yahoo should offer free IMAP and not only via their proprietary windows client
Tagged Message Delivery Agent (TMDA)
technical countermeasures include:
* whitelists: accept mail from known, trusted senders.
* blacklists: refuse mail from undesired senders.
* challenge/response: allows unknown senders which aren't on the whitelist or blacklist the chance to confirm that their message is legitimate (non-spam).
* tagged addresses: special-purpose e-mail addresses such as time-dependent addresses, or addresses which only accept certain kinds of communication. These increase the transparency of TMDA for unknown senders by allowing them to safely circumvent the challenge/response system.
This combination was chosen based on the following assumptions about the current state of spam on the Internet:
1. You cannot keep your email address secret from spammers.
2. Content-based filters can't distinguish spam from legitimate mail with sufficient accuracy.
3. To maintain economies of scale, bulk-mailing is generally:
* An impersonal process where the recipient is not distinguished.
* A one-way communication channel (from spammer to victim).
4. spam will not cease until it becomes prohibitively expensive for spammers to operate.