Like TV display static, a VHS tape rewinding, or a butter churn, the grating sound of AOL dial-up Web can even quickly be a factor of the previous.
As simply stated on its assist web site, “Dial-up Web to be discontinued.” The service will finish Sept. 30 2025, at which level, “this service and the related software program, the AOL Dialer software program and AOL Defend browser, that are optimized for older working techniques and dial-up web connections, will probably be discontinued.”
That is not excellent news for these people nonetheless counting on dial-up, primarily in rural areas within the US and the place broadband isn’t out there. Data from the 2019 census revealed that 265,331 individuals relied solely on dial-up Web.
The cacophony of beeps and whistles that accompanied dial-up Web had been an iconic sound from the dot-com increase of the Nineteen Nineties.
Hopefully people shedding their dial-up will be capable of entry one of several alternatives: DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), cable, fiber optic (FTH), wi-fi web (equivalent to 5G) or satellite tv for pc.
AOL ending its dial-up sparked a bunch of threads on Reddit, with many chatters shocked that dial-up nonetheless existed on this period of fast-speed Web. On a thread, “AOL discontinues its dial-up internet, and we’re just surprised they even offered it in 2025,” many Redditers waxed nostalgic:
- “My mother and father switched to limitless after I spent a whole night time downloading the Batman and Robin trailer.”
- “My very first video obtain ever was Rob Zombie’s By no means Gonna Cease. It took eight hours.”
- “Fascinating! The final time I used dial-up from AOL was in 1999 on the Greek island of Rhodos.”
- “My first modem had rubber couplers to place a bodily cellphone handset into.”
- “Ah the reminiscences of not with the ability to use cellphone as a result of Limewire [was] operating lol.”
