fIf you are using an @att.net, @pacbell.net, @sbcglobal.net, or any similar email account, and while doing so you do not also have a paid account with AT&T such as a cel phone, mobile hotspot, landline, something you are paying for… if that is you… you account is in danger. And yes, that includes @yahoo.com addresses, too. The danger is that you could lose access to the account.
I’ve recently had two people in my network completely lose access, suddenly, to their accounts. The password recovery measures in place failed in both those cases, and because there was no actual customer relationship… AT&T and/or Yahoo denied further support (one of my cases was an @yahoo.com address, the other an @pacbell.net address). A 3rd customer has an @pacbell.net address and can still receive mail at it, but it gets repeatedly hacked with someone sending mail through his account – it shows up in the sent mail file – even after taking every available measure to lock down security. Every measure except 2-factor authentication, because AT&T won’t let him set up a phone number on the account because it’s not a paid account.
If this sounds confusing and nonsensical – and it is! – the bottom line comes down to this:
- Unless you have a paid account with AT&T or Yahoo, you are not entitled to any support whatsoever and if things go off the rails, they will not help you recover the account.
- Their software / website backend is buggy and full of conflicts, missing features, and authentication traps. The co-mingling of AT&T and Yahoo resources is clumsy and inconsistent.
- If you get in trouble with one of these accounts, you can’t then fix it after the fact by adding a paid account: they will make you use a new email address at that point. You have to be able to receive email at the address to join it to a paid account.
Accordingly, it is now Creative Goose recommended policy: any customer using such an account should do one of two things:
- Set up a paid account with AT&T; it could be fiber Internet, cel phones, hotspots, whatever – and have them associate the existing, working email with that account. They can do that.
- Otherwise, save out any important messages or address books, and make a plan to phase out of that email address. It is no longer safe to use free email addresses from these 2 companies.
Creative Goose can help you take these steps if you like. And/or, we can help you set up and migrate to a new email address.