AOL dial-up to shut down as early inernet pioneer to hang up the phone for good
While many people may be more shocked to hear that service is still running today, AOL is set to dial-up for the last time. For those who used the internet in its early days, you will still be able to recall the array of beeps and boops that came with dial-up technology.
Back before smartphones, iPads, and laptops, telephone lines were how households connected to the internet in the 1990s. However 34 years on, we are definitely in a whole new era of technology where this service is no longer required.
AOL, otherwise known as America Online, will be shutting down its dial-up internet service for customers in Canada and the US, reports the Express. This shut down may seem like a long time coming as AOL UK was discontinued back 2006 after the firm was purchased by the Carphone Warehouse.
However, for those feeling nostalgic, the brand can still be accessed through old email addresses. In fact, you can even still sign up for an account.
The shut down of AOL across the pond is set to take place on September 30, 2025, leaving any households who refused to switch to modern broadband services with two options. Either make the much needed upgrade or go without the internet.
Dial-up technology was all the rage back in the '90s, which used standard telephone lines to access the internet. This was the perfect system at the time as emails and the web were mostly text-based and websites were much simpler.
However, this revolutionary system would struggle to function properly in the current day and age due to websites and games requiring massive amounts of data to load up.
In fact, to download a 1GB file, dial-up technology would need one day, 15 hours and 40 minutes as the service had an average data speed of 56 kilobytes per second.
In comparison, UK regulator Ofcom says that the average UK broadband speed in 2025 is 223 Mbps - meaning the same file could be downloaded in less than 36 seconds.
AOL website states: "AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet.
"This service will no longer be available in AOL plans. As a result, on September 30, 2025 this service and 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."
The beeps, boops and sometimes screeches from AOL were a regular sound in households across the US and the UK. This was due to the portals, email services and internet connection it provided at the time. However, some of the AOL products didn't let households access all types of websites.
AOL became even more popular in 1998 thanks to Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan's film 'You've Got Mail'. Throughout the film the characters send love letters to each other through AOL email, which inspired others to do the same.
The current AOL is owned by Yahoo, which some web users choose as their go to browser. However, it is more likely today that Microsoft or Google has become the default.
According to the BBC, in 2023 fewer than 300,000 people in the US reported using a dial-up internet connection.
This is drastically smaller than the 300million Amercians using a speedy broadband service to connect to their social media, web browser and streaming sites.
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