AOL, aka America Online, has finally shut down its dial-up internet service. This marks the end of the early type of internet service, which has been largely discarded globally in recent years.
If you check the history of the internet, dial-up internet was used mostly during the 90s. It was gradually replaced by cable and fiber (FTTH) internet. But despite the evolution in the broadband service, AOL said that still a few of its customers were using the dated internet technology.
But starting September 30, 2025, AOL will close dial-up internet, which also means the discontinuation of the following in its internet packages:
- AOL Dialer Software
- AOL Shield browser
“This service will no longer be available in AOL plans,” the company stated. Because of the discontinuation, “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.”
Also: Triple Play service (Voice, TV, and Internet)
Fewer customers forced AOL to discontinue its dial-up internet, finally
The company boasted 10 million customers by the mid-1990s. When Verizon purchased AOL in 2015, it still had an unreliable base of 2.1 million users. But the figures had slipped to a few thousand in 2015 when Apollo Global Management acquired parts of the Verizon Media assets and AOL.
A BBC report stated that in 2023, 300,000 people were using dial-up internet. It’s not a broadband service like fiber internet, which provides a gigabit of speed. In fact, dial-up internet provides up to 56 kilobits per second in its ideal conditions. But in the age of 5G and fiber, dial-up has lost its relevance.
Therefore, as modern-day communications require much faster broadband speed, dial-up service has faded. But it’s almost surprising to all of us that it was still in use in some parts of the US.
