I’m sending this message out to the group of you that still use e-mail accounts that date back to when ATT (formerly SBC and SNET) was our local phone company.  I have shared the story and these tips before but it doesn’t hurt repeating this advice along with some new information.

The old advice — which is still valid  —

1. When Frontier took over the internet service in Connecticut in 2014, they did not take over the ownership of these e-mail accounts.  I don’t blame Frontier for this.  These accounts which were a partnership between ATT and  Yahoo (and not a very happy relationship right now) are a messy situation, in my opinion.

2. You are still technically a “customer” of ATT and you have an account # though you are not a paying customer.

3.  All customer service pertaining to these accounts needs to be sought out directly from ATT.  There are Contact Us options on ATT.com.  That is the only website you should go to.  I have had several customers — unfortunately — get ripped off for hundreds of $$ each because they trying Googling for support on their SBCGLOBAL, ATT, or SNET e-mail accounts.  It didn’t end well for them and I got called in to clean up the scams.   Most of the ATT support is overseas, but it is real support that you do not have to pay for.

4.  The management of your account — including changing the password or looking up your account # can be found by logging into your account at ATT.com.  Again there you will also find chat support and phone support options.  You just have to be persistent in clicking through the menus. 

5.  As I have shared many times before — you should be in the process of moving beyond this old e-mail account.  It is true that you may have tons of e-mails sorted in a lot of folders in your old ATT Yahoo account.  It could be painful and expensive to move these e-mails to a new account.  It’s ok — no problem.  Leave them with ATT Yahoo.  But you should really start conducting all new e-mail business from a new account.   Google – Gmail,  Outlook.com (the old Microsoft Hotmail), iCloud (especially if you use an iPhone or Mac), Comcast e-mail (if you are now a Comcast customer), or a regular Yahoo.com e-mail account (not tied to ATT) are all better more reliable options.   For a paid consumer level e-mail service — I am a big fan of Fastmail.com.   They charge about $30 a year and do provide support if you need help.  That is another option.  You don’t necessarily have to delete the old ATT Yahoo account but I am telling you to start moving beyond it.

NEW INFO

It has come to my attention that some of my clients are having trouble logging into their ATT Yahoo email through the web browser.  I think this is some type of problem on the back end with ATT and Yahoo. I hope it is resolved soon.   It seems that if you have the Yahoo Mail app installed on iPhone / Android or have the account programmed into the Mail app on iPhone, iPad or Android — that there isn’t a problem.

If you do have an issue logging in with the web browser and you are sure the password is right.  Clear the history in your browser and try to log in again.  Do not choose the option to keep yourself logged in for 2 weeks.  Try not to sign out of your account or close your browser or you will have to sign in again.   If you need a little help clearing your browser history — read here  https://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/internet/browsers/how-to-delete-web-history-windows-xp-vista-upgrade-browser-stay-safe-internet-explorer-firefox-google-chrome-11363853878507

If you do close your browser — you will have to sign in again and clearing the history first may be required.   Again, I hope this is just a temporary solution.

Regardless, you should be moving beyond the ATT Yahoo account for everyday e-mail.  You are not an ATT customer anymore. They don’t owe you anything.  I would not expect improved reliability in the future.