If you’ve been a Verizon customer for a long time, particularly for Fios or DSL internet service, you might remember having or perhaps still use an email address ending in @verizon.net. This service, often referred to as verizon mail, was once a common perk offered alongside internet plans. However, the landscape of ISP-provided email has changed significantly.
This guide explains the current status of verizon mail, what happened to existing accounts, and how to access them if you still have one.
The History of Verizon Mail
Like many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the past, Verizon offered email accounts to its internet subscribers. Having a verizon mail address (@verizon.net) provided a convenient way for customers to manage their online communications directly through their internet provider.
Verizon’s Transition Away from Email
Several years ago (around 2017), Verizon made a strategic decision to move away from providing residential email services directly. There were several reasons for this shift:
- Focus on Core Business: Verizon chose to concentrate on its primary services: wireless communication, broadband internet (Fios, 5G Home), and television.
- Complexity of Email Services: Managing email platforms involves significant resources for security, spam filtering, storage, and customer support.
- Rise of Free Webmail: Powerful free email services like Gmail, Outlook.com, and Yahoo Mail became increasingly popular, offering robust features and large storage capacities, reducing the reliance on ISP-provided email.
As a result, Verizon stopped offering new verizon mail accounts to residential customers.
What Happened to Existing Verizon Mail Accounts?
Verizon didn’t simply shut down existing @verizon.net email addresses overnight. Instead, they implemented a transition plan:
- Migration to AOL Mail: Most existing, active verizon mail users were given the option to migrate their email service to AOL Mail. This allowed users to keep their @verizon.net email address, but the underlying platform, storage, and management were transferred to AOL’s system. (At the time of the initial migration, Verizon and AOL were under the same parent company, facilitating this move. Even with subsequent corporate changes, this partnership for managing legacy addresses generally continues).
- Yahoo Mail: Some very long-term Verizon customers might have had their email associated with Yahoo from even earlier transitions or partnerships.
- Account Closure Option: Users who didn’t want to migrate had options to close their accounts or potentially set up forwarding for a limited time.
The key takeaway is: If you still actively use an @verizon.net email address today, it is almost certainly managed by AOL (or possibly Yahoo), not directly by Verizon’s old email system.
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Accessing Your Migrated Verizon Mail
If your verizon mail account was migrated and is still active, you no longer log in through a dedicated Verizon email portal.
- Primary Login: You typically need to go to the AOL Mail login page (mail.aol.com).
- Credentials: Use your full @verizon.net email address as the username and the password associated with that account (which would now likely be your AOL/Yahoo password established during or after migration).
Your emails, folders, and contacts (if migrated successfully) should be accessible through the AOL Mail interface.
Can You Get a New Verizon Mail Address?
No. Verizon does not offer new @verizon.net email accounts for residential customers. If you need a new email address, you will need to sign up with a different provider like Google (Gmail), Microsoft (Outlook.com), Yahoo Mail, or others.
Support for Existing Verizon Mail Users
Since Verizon no longer directly manages the email platform for these legacy accounts, seeking help requires going to the current provider:
- AOL Help: For password resets, login issues, technical problems, or questions about using the AOL Mail interface with your @verizon.net address, you should consult AOL Help resources or contact AOL support directly.
- Yahoo Help: If your specific legacy account happens to be managed by Yahoo, you would need to use Yahoo Help resources.
Contacting general Verizon customer support for wireless or Fios issues will typically not resolve problems specific to your migrated verizon mail account’s functionality.
Conclusion: Legacy Address, Modern Platform
Verizon mail, in the sense of Verizon actively providing and managing @verizon.net email accounts, is a thing of the past for residential customers. While the company has shifted its focus, it provided a path for users to keep their existing @verizon.net addresses by migrating the service management primarily to AOL Mail. If you still use an active @verizon.net address, remember to access it via AOL Mail and seek support directly from AOL for any email-specific issues. No new verizon mail accounts are being created by Verizon.
