Ah, the good old days of listening to AOL dial-up’s trademark pings and hisses as it connected to the internet in 1996 – followed up angry yells downstairs to mom when she broke the connection by picking up the receiver to call your Aunt Judy while you were downloading the Quake 1 demo – are finally coming to an end after 30 years.
Wait- AOL dial-up internet service is still a thing, you ask? You’re not alone in being confused, but yes, it indeed is…but not for much longer, sadly, as AOL has announced that they are finally pulling the plug on their remaining users on September 30 after originally launching the service back in 1991 when it was originally called America Online.
During AOL dial-up’s heyday in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, the company had over 23 million users subscribed to their service in the United States; fast-forward to 2025, and that number has dwindled to a mere 175,000.
“AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue dial-up internet,” the company said in a statement. “This service will no longer be available in AOL plans.”
Still, the news will most likely come to a nostalgic blow to the many people who recall using the service in the early days of the internet, in the days before YouTube and social media, when the landscape was a far more raw and unrefined version of what we have today.
However, the charm and inventiveness of the internet’s early days – when dial-up model speeds slowly got you to where you needed to go, and signing into AOL meant you were greeted with its cheery and iconic “Welcome! You’ve Got Mail!” voice message – will remain a fond memory for countless millennials, generation Xers, and boomers the nation over.
