End of an era: AOL is discontinuing dial-up internet

It seems like the year of companies ending support for software products which used to be a big deal back in their respective heydays. Continuing with that trend, AOL has announced that it is discontinuing its dial-up internet services this year.

Some of our older readers may be familiar with the "You've got mail!" greetings and the dreadful, but iconic dial-up internet that allowed us to connect to the worldwide web through a telephone line. Internet speeds usually went up to 56Kbps, which meant that if you wanted to download the latest Battlefield 6 open beta - which comes in at around 75GB depending on the components that you install - on dial-up internet today, you would have to wait a paltry 11,234,742 seconds, which is roughly 130 days, or a bit over four months. Piece of cake.

In an announcement on its website, AOL announced that it is discontinuing dial-up internet on September 30, 2025. This would mark over 34 years of support, which is respectable considering that a 2021 report revealed that the number of subscribers for the service is in the "low thousands". Other related products getting the axe include AOL Dialer and the AOL Shield Browser.

AOL has a storied history which we have covered here at Neowin in the past couple of decades. The company is credited with pioneering instant messaging through AIM and also made the headlines for acquiring Time Warner in 2001. It even collaborated with Microsoft in multiple ventures before being purchased by Verizon in 2015 for $4.4 billion. In 2021, Verizon sold a 90% stake of its media group (comprising of Yahoo! and AOL) to Apollo Global Management for $5 billion.

Although AOL's dial-up internet services are scheduled to be killed off next month, other benefits of AOL plans are not affected. The firm has asked U.S. and Canadian customers to call 1-888-265-5555 and 1-888-265-4357 for account support, respectively.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Posted Tuesday 12 August 2025 at 4:37 am AEST (my time).

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