The End Of An Era: AOL Discontinues Dial-Up Internet After 30 Years

AOL said last week stating that it would be discontinuing dial-up internet as of Sept. 30. The move marks the end of an era when it comes to the internet, as AOL is one of the last major companies to offer the service.

The notice stated that AOL had made the decision to eliminate its dial-up option after a routine evaluation of its products and services. 

AOL has long been an internet pioneer. In the ‘90s and early ‘00s, it was one of the first companies to bring the world wide web into people's homes, capturing many users with its free trial CDs that appeared in mailboxes across the country.

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At one point, its scratchy, beepy dial-up tones were so ubiquitous that they made their way into pop culture, appearing in TV series like "Sex and the City" and movies like "You've Got Mail."

A disastrous merger with Time Warner in 2000 nearly brought an end to the company, but it managed to rebound. Throughout the 2010s, it rebranded as a digital media entity before being purchased by Verizon VZ in 2015. 

In 2021, AOL was bought by private-equity firm Apollo Global Management APO as a part of a $5 billion deal that also included another former internet giant, Yahoo!

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AOL has shrunk considerably over the last three decades, chipping away at former offerings— like instant messaging service AIM that shut down in 2017— bit by bit. Still, it's managed to plug along, offering services like dial-up, technical support, and identity theft protection.

However, with U.S. Census data showed that only 163,000 people still rely on dial-up as the primary way they access the internet, it's not surprising that the company decided to call it a day on the former mainstay. 

A spokesperson for the company told CNN that the change "does not impact the numerous other valued products and services that these subscribers are able to access and enjoy as part of their plans." For those over the age of 30, however, the news certainly feels like an ending. 

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