The Federal Communications Commission has shared some significant digits: How many years wireless carriers keep location data about their customers. Earlier this summer, FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel sent a series of inquiries to carriers and resellers about their data privacy policies, specifying an Aug. 3
deadline for replies. The commission shared their replies(Opens in a new window) last week. The data point to focus on in each response from a wireless service is how long it keeps historical cell site location information (CSLI), since cell towers have to know your location to provide you with service at all (although one reseller called Invisiv is now
marketing a service that changes your phone’s identifier to thwart long-term tracking). Until the 2018 Supreme Court ruling in Carpenter v. United States, law-enforcement investigators didn’t need a court-issued warrant to get CSLI from
carriers. And this location data remains a non-trivlal privacy risk even with that higher barrier to government curiosity. AT&T’s response (PDF(Opens in a new window)) reveals that it still holds this data for longer than its two big rivals, specifying “a retention
period of no more than 13 months for information that identifies the current or past location of a specific individual’s device and five years for historical call detail records, which include cell site location information.” AT&T also noted that it has Android smartphone vendors embed IQI software in device firmware that “collects device diagnostic and location data on a passive basis (e.g., when a device powers on or contacts a new cell tower), including latitude/longitude
information.” T-Mobile’s reply (PDF(Opens in a new window)) cites a retention period of “up to 24 months” for CSLI and two years for geolocation data gathered from emergency calls, which it says is mandated by law. Verizon’s input (PDF(Opens in a new window)), meanwhile, cites a
retention term of just one year for CSLI but does not mention a longer period for emergency calls. It further notes ”a small number of Verizon-branded applications for consumer mobile devices that obtain express customer permission to collect device location data provided by mobile device operating systems.” The basic CSLI periods at the big three match
what they’ve disclosed earlier(Opens in a new window).Recommended by Our Editors
The FCC also surveyed a variety of wireless resellers, including Google Fi, Consumer Cellular, and Mint Mobile. Their replies generally answered with versions of “talk to the company whose network we resell, because they get that location data and we don’t.”
Dish Network, however, says(Opens in a new window) it has a two-year retention period for cell-site data from the 5G network it’s building out, while Comcast(Opens in a new window) says it keeps location data from mobile usage on its Wi-Fi hotspots for two years.
“Our mobile phones know a lot about us. That means carriers know who we are, who we call, and where we are at any given moment,” Rosenworcel said in a press release. “This information and geolocation data is really sensitive. It’s a record of where we’ve been and who we are.”
That announcement notes that Rosenworcel has asked the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau to investigate carrier compliance with FCC privacy-disclosure rules and invites wireless customers to share privacy complaints and concerns(Opens in a new window) with the commission.
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If you have Verizon, there are certain situations where you might want to access your Verizon phone records, but do you want to know can you access them?
Well, I’m going to tell you everything I’ve found out about whether or not you can access them, and what the process is to get your Verizon phone records, so read on to learn all about it!
Can You Access Verizon Phone Records In [currentyear]?
You can access your Verizon phone records through your My Verizon account, but you can only go back 3 months using the My Verizon website or app in [currentyear]. You’ll have the option to either save your phone records in either PDF or Excel format, or you can print them. However, bill usage summaries are available for 18 months online.
Do you want to know additional details about accessing your Verizon phone records, such as if you can access your text message conversations? If so, keep reading below to find out!
How Long Does Verizon Keep Records of Phone Calls?
Verizon keeps phone detail records for 12 months, but only will keep the text message conversations for 5 days before they’re deleted.
Also, you can see your billing statements from the past 18 months online, but this doesn’t show you as many details like the call detail records.
However, if you just want billing statements, you can contact Verizon, and your statements from your account for the past 7 years will be available if you need them, but they will charge you.
How Do I Get My Verizon Phone Records?
You can download your text, message, and talk activity right from your My Verizon online account, including both on the Verizon website and My Verizon app.
For example, if you use the My Verizon website, you’ll just need to follow these steps to access the usage details for your mobile device:
- Log in to your My Verizon account
- Go to the My Usage section of the website
- Look for “Usage Details” towards the bottom of the page
- Select “View Previous Usage”
- You then want to choose which billing period you want
- Select to either “View” or “Print” the records in PDF format
- The bill statement records will go back 18 months, and usage activity logs go back 90 days
- To view additional activity logs, go to “Data, Talk, or Text”
- Choose which line you want to look at
- Select “View,” and then you can see the spreadsheet
- Select “Download to spreadsheet”
- These records go back 90 days
Additionally, you can view your usage summary records for all lines on your account from the My Verizon app by following these steps:
- Open the My Verizon app and click on “Account Overview”
- Select which line you want
- Select “My Usage,” and then select “History”
- You also can find it by selecting “Manage Plan”
- Go to “View Usage History,” and then look up the date you want
- Only up to 90 days of data usage summaries are available
Can I Get Text Message Records From Verizon?
You can get text message records from Verizon, but you only can get the past 5 days of text message activity to read.
Also, you will only be able to read the messages if the other person also is a Verizon customer, so you can’t see text messages from anyone else outside of Verizon.
If you’d like to access your text messages, you’ll need to first sign in to your Verizon account and then go through these steps:
- Select “Account,” and then “Text Online”
- You will be able to see the conversations for the phone number you’re signed into, and you view the whole message for that phone number
Additionally, you can see 12 months of text log records for the phones on your account, and you can see communications from people outside of Verizon, as well following these steps:
- Log in to your My Verizon account
- Select “Bill Summary”
- Go to “Charges by Line,” and then you can see the data
- If you want to save the text log, you can do so in either Excel or PDF format
How Long Does Verizon Keep Text Messages for Subpoenas?
If you want to subpoena text messages, such as for a divorce, you’ll be out of luck with Verizon, since Verizon only keeps text message data for 10 days.
Furthermore, by the time you go to court and get the subpoena filed, those records outside of those 10 days will already be erased from the Verizon system.
Verizon does keep text log records for one year, so if you just need the log without the conversations, then you’ll have access to that.
However, Verizon does comply with all court orders, and will retain records when given a court order. However, you may not be able to get the text messages you’re after.
Also, you can get previous billing statements from Verizon that go back 7 years, although you’ll need to contact Verizon for those older statements.
To learn more, you can also read our posts on why is Verizon not working, are Verizon phones unlocked, and AT&T vs Verizon coverage.
Conclusion
You can access your Verizon phone records by going into your My Verizon account, where you can see up to 90 days of detailed usage activity. However, you can only see the past 5 days of text conversations with other Verizon customers.
Also, with the My Verizon app or website, you can see the past 18 months of billing statements, or you can contact Verizon if you need billing statements from up to 7 years ago.