Jim Rossman: Set up account recovery information before you need it

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This week a reader asks about how to recover an email account that disappeared off their phone. ”My wife had her email account disappear (like into cyberspace). We’ve tried to restore via reboot and numerous calls to AT&T and to Apple. Neither were helpful. Any thoughts on what could be done?”

AT&T has a webpage to help users get back into their accounts if they’re having trouble logging in. You can visit more.att.com/myemailinfo.

What you do next depends on how you have the account set up.

You can update your password online if AT&T can validate your identity. This validation is done by providing account recovery information, which needs to be added to your account when you are logged in. In other words, you need to set up recovery information on your account before you need it.

This advice is for all types of online accounts. You will find a profile link on all your online accounts. This link will show you your account information, including login details.

On the AT&T portal, once you’ve logged in, you’ll see a small circle with your initial in it on the upper right. Click the circle and you’ll see a button to “Manage your account.”

This page has a section for sign-in information, which lets the user enter a phone number and a recovery email address, which should be a different email address entirely. You can also fill out some security questions.

These recovery items are used if you need to validate your identity to reset your password.

If you need to reset your password, a code or password reset link will be sent to the recovery email or texted to the recovery phone number.

If you don’t have alternate recovery methods listed in your profile, you’ll have to jump through some pretty serious hoops to get your password reset.

AT&T provides an online form you need to fill out to prove your identity against AT&T internal records to validate your account. If they like the answers you provide on the recovery form, an AT&T customer service agent will contact you, which should happen in 72 hours.

This is certainly less convenient, so do yourself a favor and check the recovery information on your important online accounts before you need it.