It’s officially the end of an era, as AOL finally shuts down its long-running dial-up internet service.
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In a Friday update on its website, AOL confirmed the news. “AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet. This service will no longer be available in AOL plans.”
“As a result, on September 30, 2025, this service and the associated software, the AOL Dialer software and AOL Shield browser, which are optimized for older operating systems and dial-up internet connections, will be discontinued.”
According to U.S. Census Bureau data, approximately 163,000 households still had dial-up internet as of 2023. AOL’s internet service has been available for over 35 years.
A spokesperson of Yahoo, which owns AOL, confirmed to CBS News that the dial-up internet service is being discontinued due to it “innovate[s] to meet the needs of today’s digital landscape.”
However, the spokesperson pointed out that the discontinuation of the dial-up internet service will not impact free email accounts or other services.
CNBC further reported that approximately 1.5 million people still pay a monthly subscription service fee for AOL. Instead of dial-up access, they will get technical support and identity software. Subscribers pay between $9.99 and $14.99 per month for AOL Advantage.
A source noted that the number of AOL dial-up subscribers is now “in the low thousands.” Just a decade ago, it was reported that 2.1 million people were still using the service.
Tech Historian Speaks out About the Discontinuation of AOL Dial-Up Internet Service
While speaking to NPR, W. Patrick McCray, a tech historian at the University of California, Santa Barbara, discussed the end of AOL’s dial-up internet service with NPR.
McCray discussed how the process of setting up the dial-up internet resulted in robotic, static noise. Most of the time, the connection was followed by the iconic 1990s phrase, “You’ve got mail!”
The entire dial-up process is through a phone jack and software.
“In some ways, it was kind of like the sound of the 1990s,” McCray pointed out about AOL’s connection sounds.
However, although it came in the form of mailed CDs, McCray said the dial-up service lagged. It also has only a fraction of the speed that other internet providers offer.
Although many internet users are not going to be impacted by the loss of the dial-up service, McCray pointed out, “For those people who live in those rural communities today, they’re going to have to find an alternative.”