AOL, the longstanding internet service provider, announces discontinuation of its landline services.
In the digital age, where high-speed internet connections are the norm, it's easy to forget the days of dial-up connections and AOL's iconic sound of "You've got mail." AOL, once a household name, has announced that it will discontinue its dial-up internet service by September 30, 2025, marking the end of over three decades of offering this service.
The shutdown will also include associated software like the AOL Dialer and AOL Shield browser. This decision comes as a reminder of the technological evolution that has taken place since the 1990s, when AOL's dial-up connection sound and the phrase "You've got mail" were iconic.
Despite this, approximately 163,000 American households still use AOL's dial-up internet service, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. This represents more than 0.1% of U.S. households with internet subscriptions.
The average speed of a dial-up internet connection is about 56 kilobytes per second, a far cry from the modern, high-speed connections that we are accustomed to today. In the dial-up era, web pages took minutes to load, and disconnecting a landline phone would disconnect the internet.
AOL's dial-up service was a central plot element in the 1998 film "You've Got Mail," where characters fell in love through AOL messages. The service was also a key marketing tool, with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan featured in a 2000 marketing campaign for AOL's services.
Interestingly, AOL Mail remains active with over 1.5 million users in 2023, separate from the dial-up service. However, the number of people currently using AOL's dial-up service has not been disclosed by the company, now owned by Yahoo.
The announcement has sparked online nostalgia for the dial-up era, reminding us of a time when waiting for a web page to load was a common occurrence and opening an AOL CD offering free trials of internet access was a form of junk mail.
This news comes after Microsoft ended Skype in May and Internet Explorer in 2022, marking the end of another era in internet history. As we move forward, it's clear that the landscape of the digital world is constantly changing, and we must adapt to these changes to stay connected.
[1] U.S. Census Bureau data, 2023. [2] AOL Help Portal announcement date. [3] TechCrunch, 2023. [4] AOL Mail user statistics, 2023.
In the feeble holdouts of the past, approximately 0.1% of U.S. households with internet subscriptions still rely on AOL's dial-up internet service, a remarkable contrast to the high-speed connections and streaming platforms that dominate today's lifestyle. This forthcoming discontinuation of AOL's dial-up service, scheduled for September 30, 2025, indicates a clear shift in the general-news landscape, signifying another relic of the 1990s technology age fading away.
