AOL‘s dial-up internet is finally taking its last lap this month and next. Yes, while maybe a dinosaur by today’s digital standards, dial-up is still around. But AOL says it’s officially pulling the plug on its service on Sept. 30.
AOL shared the brief update on its support site. According to the Associated Press, dial-up internet services and the associated software are “optimized for older operating systems” and will be unavailable on AOL plans.
“AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet,” AOL wrote in a brief update.
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Y’All Remember THIS Internet?
AOL, formerly America Online, introduced many households to the world wide web for the first time when its dial-up service launched decades ago. It became really popular in the 90s and early 2000s, with internet cafes poppin’ off and home systems.
This old-school internet service was known for its series of beeps and buzzes heard over the phone. That was part of connecting your computer to the internet. Millennials might remember the frustrations of being kicked off the web if anyone else at home needed the landline phone for another call! AOL also didn’t play about its marketing, sending out an endless bombardment of CDs to advertise free trials.
Eventually, broadband and wireless offerings emerged and rose to dominance. That pivot eliminated all of dial-up internet’s quirks, and it’s no longer how most people access the internet today.
Who Is Still Using Dial-Up Internet Services?
Still, a handful of consumers have continued to rely on internet services connected over telephone lines. In the U.S., according to Census Bureau data, an estimated 163,401 households were using dial-up alone to get online in 2023. The number represents just over 0.13% of all homes with internet subscriptions nationwide.
AOL was the largest dial-up internet provider for some time, but not the only one to emerge over the years. Some smaller internet providers continue to offer dial-up today. Regardless, the decline of dial-up has been a long time coming. And AOL shutting down its service arrives as other programs of the internet’s earlier days continue to disappear.
Microsoft retired video calling service Skype just earlier this year, for example, as well as Internet Explorer back in 2022. In 2017, AOL discontinued its Instant Messenger. That chat platform was once lauded as the most significant trend in online communication since email was founded in 1997. However, it later struggled to ward off rivals.
AOL Stopped Being That GWORL A Minute Ago
AOL itself is far from the dominant internet player it was decades ago. Let’s not forget its catchphrase, “You’ve got mail,” that greeted users who checked their inboxes. It was famously displayed in the 1998 film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan by the same name.
Before it was America Online, AOL was founded as Quantum Computer Services in 1985. It soon rebranded and hit the public market in 1991. Near the height of the dot-com boom, AOL’s market value reached nearly $164 billion in 2000. But terrible years followed, and that valuation dropped. The once-tech pioneer bounced between multiple owners. After a disastrous merger with Time Warner Inc., Verizon bought AOL and sold it and Yahoo to a private equity firm. A CNBC report claimed dial-up internet users were “in the low thousands.”
Not all is lost for AOL. Beyond dial-up internet services, the company continues to offer its free email services and subscriptions that advertise identity protection and other tech support.
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Associated Press Business writer Wyatte Grantham-Philips contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.
