AOL 'kills' dial-up Internet: Farewell after more than 3 decades

It seems like 2025 is the year of goodbyes. One legendary software program after another once-popular service is saying goodbye. And this time, the name leaving the stage is AOL, with the announcement that it will end its dial-up internet service by the end of this year.

For those of us who are a little older, the phrase 'You've got mail!' probably brings back memories of both excitement and… waiting. It was a time when connecting to the 'worldwide web' meant plugging in a telephone line, listening to the distinctive 'buzzing' sound, and patiently waiting for the connection to reach its maximum speed of 56 Kbps. It sounds slow, but it was the 'best of the best' back then.

If you were to take the plunge and download the 75GB Battlefield 6 Open Beta over dial-up today, congratulations: you'd be sitting there waiting for about 11,234,742 seconds, or more than 130 days — just enough time to get through a quarter.

According to the official announcement on the website, AOL will completely disconnect its dial-up internet service on September 30, 2025. Closing a journey of more than 34 years of service - a remarkable number considering that, as of 2021, the number of AOL dial-up users is only at. 'a few thousand'. In addition, related products such as AOL Dialer and AOL Shield Browser will also follow suit.

AOL is more than just an internet service provider. It ushered in the era of instant messaging with AIM, made headlines when it acquired Time Warner in 2001, and has partnered with Microsoft on major projects. In 2015, AOL was acquired by Verizon for $4.4 billion, and six years later, 90% of its shares (along with Yahoo!) were sold to Apollo Global Management for $5 billion.

While dial-up Internet will disappear next month, other AOL benefits will remain. Customers in the U.S. and Canada are advised to contact 1-888-265-5555 and 1-888-265-4357, respectively , for account support.