Ads in AT&T Yahoo! e-mail website

[larrys]

This is only for those out there who have AT&T DSL internet service.

Have you noticed lately that you’re now getting graphical ads in your web
interface (both the original web interface and their new “AT&T Yahoo! Mail
Beta” interface)? If so and you’re not happy about this, read on. If you
don’t care about those ads, then you can ignore this posting.

Basically, Yahoo has decided they’re not getting enough money from the
AT&T/Yahoo partnership and have decided to start displaying ads to us.
Now, to be a little fair to Yahoo, they also now have unlimited e-mail
storage. I had been under the impression that the e-mail product that
was bundled with my AT&T DSL service was “Mail Plus.” Both the AT&T and
Yahoo web sites were saying that my mail service was “Mail Plus.” If you
go to Yahoo to see the features of “Mail Plus” they explicitly say that
it has “No Graphical Ads.”

But, both AT&T and Yahoo are now claiming that I did not have “AT&T Yahoo!
Mail Plus” but actually had “AT&T Yahoo! Mail.”

WHAT TO DO:[list=1][*]If you haven’t called AT&T, do that first. This won’t actually do any
good but it’s the first official step and it also lets AT&T know that their
paying customers are not happy with what they’re getting! The AT&T
toll-free phone number is 1-877-722-3755.

If you take this far enough at AT&T, they’ll end up telling you that there’s
nothing they can do. They only supply your internet connection. The
ads are being displayed by Yahoo.

But, if you call the Yahoo Customer Support line (1-408-349-1572),
they can’t help you either! As far as they’re concerned, you’re not a paying
Yahoo customer!
[*]Once you’ve followed the “official” steps (calling the normal support
channels), it’s time to take it to the next level. I would suggest writing
a polite, detailed letter to Yahoo explaining that you believe you actually
are already paying for Yahoo! Mail Plus and should not be getting any
graphical ads on your web interface! And, if they continue with the
graphical ads that you’ll stop using all Yahoo! services!

John Kremer
Vice President, Yahoo! Mail.
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Tel: (408) 349-3300 (follow voice prompts to dial by name)
Fax: (408) 349-3301
jkremer@yahoo-inc.com

You can e-mail Mr. Kremer if you’d like but, in my opinion, a real letter
sent via the post office would have a greater impact.[/list=1]
I’ve done some digging and here are some facts that may help to bolster your
claim that you already have Mail Plus and therefore should not be subjected
to those annoying graphical ads. This info was current as of July 1, 2007
(when I was writing this):

• Go to http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=7301. This AT&T web page said
  one of the standard features of their DSL service is “AT&T Yahoo! Mail
  Plus.” About June 26, 2007 (after I pointed this out to Mr. Kremer) he
  had AT&T correct it. I’ve attached a screen shot I took on June 9, 2007
  showing what it said before they changed it.
  
• Go to: http://mailplus.mail.yahoo.com/. There you’ll see that the “Yahoo!
  Mail Plus” product has no graphical ads.
  
• Sign into your Yahoo! Mail account and click on the “Member Center” and
  then click on the “Products & Services” tab. There you’ll see a link with
  the products and services “Included Free with Your Account” listing “Mail
  Plus” at the top. Click on this link to get info on your “Mail Plus” account.
  This page refers to your service both as “AT&T Yahoo! Mail” and “Mail Plus.”
  On this same page there’s a link to “Go to Mail Plus.”
  
• If you click on the “Mail Upgrades” link, you’ll notice that they do not
  have an option to upgrade to “Mail Plus.” This is correct. It doesn’t
  make sense to offer you an upgrade to a service that you already have!
  
• Throughout Yahoo & AT&T, they refer to “AT&T Yahoo Mail Plus” and “Yahoo!
  Mail Plus” as just “Mail Plus” (leaving off the company names and only
  referring to the product, “Mail Plus.”)

Personally, I’ve already setup a new e-mail account somewhere else. But,
I figure that I’ve done some of the footwork (documenting where AT&T and
Yahoo! have been telling us that we already have Mail Plus and finding the
contact info for John Kremer at Yahoo!) and figured this may be useful for
others.

Good luck!
Larry.

[larryziegler]

I have AT&T/Yahoo DSL at home and in my office. I use Outlook Express for my Yahoo mail and am rarely in the Yahoo web mail system....usually to just dump bulk mail or use a vacation response for my business email account, which is also hosted by Yahoo. My monthly rate for DSL pro is about $20/month (not any promotion) as I have it bundled with my home telephone service. If they can provide me DSL service that cheap, I'm willing to deal with ads, otherwise, my monthly service will go up, which I don't want. Since I use Outlook Express for my DSL mail, I see no ads anyway and offer that as your solution to ad-free content.

[larrys]

Originally posted by larryziegler
I have AT&T/Yahoo DSL at home and in my office. I use Outlook Express for my Yahoo mail and am rarely in the Yahoo web mail system....usually to just dump bulk mail or use a vacation response for my business email account, which is also hosted by Yahoo. My monthly rate for DSL pro is about $20/month (not any promotion) as I have it bundled with my home telephone service. If they can provide me DSL service that cheap, I'm willing to deal with ads, otherwise, my monthly service will go up, which I don't want. Since I use Outlook Express for my DSL mail, I see no ads anyway and offer that as your solution to ad-free content.

Larry,

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I could use Outlook and not have to suffer with any ads. While that is certainly a workable solution, it's not the perfect solution for me. That would work for reading e-mail at home. But, I couldn't then check my e-mail anywhere else without again getting flooded with those ads. Using the web interface allows me the option of using any computer with an internet connection to check mail.

Yahoo does provide a free e-mail service with ads. I also have a few of those free Yahoo e-mail accounts. They have ads and I don't mind them because they're paying for that e-mail service. But, you and I are paying for our Yahoo e-mail through AT&T with our DSL bill. My point to them was that they were marketing that mail product as "Mail Plus" which does not have ads. I believe that I'm paying for an ad-free service and expect for them to deliver it!

But, my solution was just to change mail providers. I've setup a new mail account and now need to transfer over to using it.

Thanks for the input!
Larry.

[larryziegler]

I have to say that I went back to check exactly how the Yahoo mail site deals with ads as I failed to mention that my home DSL mail account also was merged at initial setup with my business email Yahoo ID. There are 2 portals showing in the mail accounts field on the upper left side to essentially toggle back and forth. One is my xxxx.com account which shows no ads, the other is my regular Yahoo dsl account, which does show ads. While in my regular dsl account, under the mail upgrades button, it shows business mail upgrade to have an ad-less account and mail-plus is nowhere to be seen on that upgrade page. To be honest, I don't even pay attention to the ads anymore, so its of no bother to me. I certainly won't shoot you down in your quest to remove the ads though.