{"id":60271,"date":"2025-08-11T15:17:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T15:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/60271\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T15:17:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T15:17:09","slug":"aol-is-ending-dial-up-internet-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/60271\/","title":{"rendered":"AOL Is Ending Dial-Up Internet Service"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are old enough to remember<\/a> the signature pinging, boinging, and hissing sounds that came with connecting to the Internet in the early days<\/a>, hold onto those memories \u2014 AOL just announced that its dial-up is about to hang up forever.<\/p>\n

The company released a statement <\/a>on Friday, which read: “AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet.”<\/p>\n

The service and all associated software will stop working on September 30, 2025, the company added.<\/p>\n

Related: Billionaire Investor Frank McCourt Jr. Wants to Transform the Entire Internet. Here’s How.<\/a><\/p>\n

Wait, AOL dial-up service has been available all this time? That’s a valid question, and the answer is shockingly yes. The New York Times<\/a>, citing U.S. Census Bureau data<\/a>, reports that in 2023, 163,000 United States households relied on dial-up service to access the internet. That represents just over 1 percent of all internet subscribers in the country.<\/p>\n

The last time AOL released dial-up user numbers was in 2015, when the company reported two million users<\/a> that represented $40 million a month in revenue. The company did not offer current user numbers with its closing announcement.<\/p>\n

AOL’s dial-up service unlocked internet access for millions of users in the 1990s, and its signature “You’ve Got Mail” sign-on announcement was so iconic that it spurred a rom-com of the same name starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as a couple who fall in love over instant messaging.<\/p>\n

Related: ‘Thought It Had Been Deleted’: Elon Musk Says His Team at X Found the Vine Video Archive<\/a><\/p>\n

While the closure is sure to inspire a wave of nostalgic thinkpieces about a happier time of the internet’s existence, Gen Xers should remember that the web might have seemed nicer than what we have today, but it was insanely slower. Dial-up internet speeds average about 56 kilobytes a second, reports The Times. Typical broadband connections are several thousand times faster. Think about that the next time you’re frustrated that a web page took more than half a second to load.<\/p>\n

End of an Era\u2026<\/p>\n

Dial Up Internet will be discontinued by AOL on September 30, 2025 pic.twitter.com\/MXn5t4MzJv<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 ? Physical Media Forever ? (@VHSDVDBLURAY4K) August 9, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

Join top CEOs, founders, and operators at the Level Up conference<\/a> to unlock strategies for scaling your business, boosting revenue, and building sustainable success. <\/p>\n

If you are old enough to remember<\/a> the signature pinging, boinging, and hissing sounds that came with connecting to the Internet in the early days<\/a>, hold onto those memories \u2014 AOL just announced that its dial-up is about to hang up forever.<\/p>\n

The company released a statement <\/a>on Friday, which read: “AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet.”<\/p>\n

The service and all associated software will stop working on September 30, 2025, the company added.<\/p>\n

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