Changing your TDS recovery contact and username

Whether you’re a long-time customer or new to TDS (welcome!), we want to pass along a few tips and tricks about managing your TDS account.

Following these steps will only take a few minutes but will ensure you can always quickly and easily log in and make any needed updates—resetting a password and changing how you receive outage notifications just to name a few—whenever and wherever you wish.

Setting Recovery Contacts

If you’re struggling to log in to your TDS My Account, having Recovery Contacts help you get access without having to call or chat with us. This information is used to send a security code over email, text, or via an automated call to your preferred phone number so you can make changes. We encourage customers to set up both an active email address as well as a phone number as Recovery Contacts.

To add or update your Recovery Contact information:

  1. Log into your My Account and choose Contact Preferences from the menu on the top of your screen.
  2. Under Recovery Contacts, you’ll see the information we have on file for you. If you haven’t added any Recovery Contact information previously, you’ll be given the option to Add Recovery Contacts.
  3. If you’d like to update your Recovery Contacts, simply click on the button that says Change Recovery Contacts. Before making any changes, for security, you’ll be asked to provide a code that will be emailed to the existing recovery information listed in your My Account. You can also choose to receive a phone call or a text message with this security code if you prefer.

Changing your TDS Username

We all change our minds—or our email—which means you might want to update your TDS Username. Before we get to the instructions though, we want to offer a few hot Username tips:

  1. Your Username must be an email address.
  2. Your Username doesn’t have to match your Recovery Contact info. It can, but it is not a requirement.
  3. Depending on when you became a TDS customer, your default TDS Username may be a TDS-provided email address. It doesn’t matter if you don’t use this account or if this account no longer exists. You can still use this Username to access your My Account or log into any TV streaming apps that work with your subscription.

To change your TDS Username:

  1. Log into your My Account and choose Users & Security.
  2. Go to the Manage Users
  3. Choose to Edit your existing name or you can Add New User to add a different email address as your Username.

After you add a different Username, also be sure to set up a password so you can use it to log in. Here’s how:

  1. Go to Manage Users and click on Edit next to your new Username.
  2. Scroll down to Account Actions and choose Change My Password.
  3. You will be given a temporary password you can use to log in—and when you do, you’ll be prompted to set up a new one.

Don’t forget these two things!

First, while you’re in your My Account, don’t forget to sign up for service alert text messages. Second, don’t fall for phishing attempts that ask you to update anything in your TDS My Account. Watch for these five “tells” an email is trying to trick you.

Share this article:

Missy works on the Corporate Communications team and reports stories to TDS employees and customers. This is right up her alley because she’s an extrovert and also a big fan of research (really, she’ll look up just about anything that strikes her interest). Missy is a native of Madison, Wis. with an undergraduate in Anthropology and a master’s degree in Life Sciences Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her interest in the Internet as a mass media shaped her work towards a PhD in Journalism and Mass Communications. She’s also worked as an editorial assistant, copywriter, and production artist. In her off hours, Missy is a crafter, Pinterest addict, reader, wife, and mom of two kids.

Leave a Comment