Quite a story! Back when I lived in Pacific Telephone/PacBell/SBC/AT&T territory, I got the postcards in the mail all the time telling me how great SBC/Yahoo was. I saw no reason to have them place content in front of me, so the cards went in the recycling bin.
Similarly, my neighbor signed up for Comcast cable modem service. They did not send him any info on setting up his computer (use DHCP, use PPPOE?, etc.). Instead they just gave him a CD that pretty much messed up his computer. He never did get their email working, so he's still paying AOL for email along with Comcast for access.
Why do communications companies "partner" with content companies? Does Yahoo pay the communications company since the users now end up on Yahoo's page (and users see the ads there)? I really like some things Yahoo does (like their listservs), but too much consumer oriented stuff is just plain hokey.
It reminds me of years ago when I got a Radio Shack catalog. The catalog featured a transistor radio battery that had "higher lumen output." It featured a TV antena whose major attibute was that it "looked good on top of any set." I wrote them a letter about it. They wrote back that the copy can get a bit hokey at times.
I dunno ... I'm finding consumer oriented advertising pretty insulting in general.
Harold