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Daily Mail
21 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Nostalgia as service that took the web to every US home logs off for good
AOL is finally hanging up on dial-up internet — the service that once brought the web into millions of American homes — after more than three decades. The internet pioneer, famous for its 'You've got mail' greeting and those ear-splitting connection tones, will shut down the service on September 30. Bosses pointed to dwindling demand in the age of superfast Wi-Fi and smartphones connected to 5G. At its peak in the 1990s, AOL's dial-up dominated the market and was immortalized in films like You've Got Mail and TV hits including Sex and the City. Around 160,000 people still connect to the internet through a landline, according to 2023 US Census data. Despite being a pioneer of internet connection and instant messaging, AOL eventually fell behind rivals. Verizon bought the company in 2015, then sold it in 2021 to private equity giant Apollo Global Management. The change won't affect AOL email accounts, and those with broadband or Fios won't notice a difference. 'AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet,' AOL wrote in a message to customers on its website. Many Americans will remember the nostalgic beeps and tones the software made when connecting. Verizon acquired AOL in 2015 and Yahoo in 2017, merging them into a media arm first called Oath and later rebranded as Verizon Media. In 2021, Verizon sold the combined Yahoo and AOL business to Apollo Global Management. Yahoo has also been forced to make major changes after falling behind big tech rivals. Although no longer the account du jour, Yahoo — the pioneer of free mass-market email — is putting itself at the forefront of implementing AI features to lure in younger users. Yahoo has launched 'Catch Up' designed to help users speed-read and sort their emails with minimal effort. Yahoo says it's part of the biggest upgrade to its email system in a decade, as it aims to win over a new generation of users who believe in working smarter, not harder. Gen Z and millennials are one of Yahoo's fastest-growing demographics and already make up half of its Mail users. Although Yahoo was first in the game, Gmail soon began poaching its users with a more user-friendly interface. Despite being a pioneer of internet connection and instant messaging AOL has fallen behind The company lost even more customers after a massive data breach in 2013 exposed around 3 billion of its users information. The relentless march of AI continues to thrill investors and unnerve workers, who could soon see it displace their roles. Dario Amodei, CEO of leading AI company Anthropic recently warned the technology could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs in the next one to five years. The billionaire said AI could also soon raise unemployment to 10 to 20 percent.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
AOL ends its dial-up service, an early internet relic still used in some remote areas
AOL is discontinuing its dial-up service, which helped millions of households connect to the web during the internet's formative years and was instantly recognizable for its beep-laden, scratch-heavy ring tone in the 1990s and early 2000s. The company, which once dominated as the world's largest internet provider, confirmed the move to CBC News on Sunday, saying it would discontinue dial-up as a subscription option on Sept. 30 "as we innovate to meet the needs of today's digital landscape." Dial-up services were a mainstay of the early internet — as famously depicted in the 1998 romantic comedy You've Got Mail — and involved using a phone line to connect devices to the web. Those of a certain age will recall that this meant choosing between your landline and your internet access. The company, which offered the service to customers in Canada and the U.S., didn't offer details about its existing dial-up clients. With much-speedier broadband internet access now the standard for web connection in North America, the end of dial-up service raises the question of who was still using it. "There are many parts of rural Canada that still do not have reliable access or any access to high-speed internet connectivity. And for them, dial-up is their only alternative," said technology analyst Carmi Levy in an interview with CBC News. "There are a number of regional or local players across the country that still provide low-cost dial-up access. The problem here is that the base, the internet as we know it, is no longer built for dial-up access. And so it's a technology that time really has passed by," Levy said. According to a CRTC report published earlier this year, 95 per cent of Canadians have access to high-speed internet. But broadband coverage in the country's three territories, as well as in rural areas and on First Nations reserves, is still catching up with the rest of Canada. CBC News reached out to the CRTC to ask how many Canadians are still making use of dial-up services, which falls under the "fixed internet" umbrella that the regulator tracks. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that about 163,000 households were using dial-up exclusively for internet service in 2023. "This isn't gonna affect a lot of people, but if you're one of those people who simply never transitioned off, it's pretty seismic," added Levy. "It means that at the end of September, you're losing the only access to the internet that you've ever known." Canada's major telecoms are scaling up fibre-optic networks for internet connectivity because they're capable of transferring data at high speeds and tend to be cost-effective. Satellite services — including SpaceX's Starlink — are also sometimes used for high-speed internet in rural and remote areas. Dana Ditomaso, a technology analyst in Victoria, B.C., noted that satellite coverage isn't always reliable or fulsome in less populated areas. "Especially if it's mountainous or there's a lot of trees, even satellite internet isn't going to work all that well because you need a clear line to the satellite," she noted. That's where the gap filled by dial-up services might exist — but Ditomaso doesn't expect any nostalgia-fuelled revival of the technology. "It's not gonna be like vinyl records, and people are like, 'I really want that dial-up experience,' you know?" she said. "It's people who have to have dial-up, not because they want to have dial-up." Sign in to access your portfolio
BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
AOL ends dial-up internet service after more than 30 years
AOL is shutting down the dial-up service that introduced homes across the US to the offering, which connects to the internet via a phone line, launched more than 30 years ago and was known for its chirpy whirring start-up sound, memorialised in the 1998 film You've Got Mail. But it has long since been eclipsed by faster alternatives. Fewer than 300,000 people in the US reported having only a dial-up internet connection, compared with more than 300 million with broadband service, according to 2023 government estimates. "AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet, " the company said in a notice to subscribers in the US and Canada on Friday. The service will no longer be available in AOL plans as of 30 September, the firm added."Thanks for the memories RIP," wrote AOL co-founder Steve Case, who presided over the firm's growth in the company was known for luring customers by mailing them free trial discs and at one point claimed ownership of nearly 40% of the time that Americans spent which merged with Time Warner in 2000 in a deal widely deemed disastrous, boasted more than 30 million subscribers at the end of its lead had already started to be eroded, as broadband offerings from rivals started to gain traction. As early as 2003, obituaries for dial-up service had begun, as in a Wall Street Journal article that declared: "It's official. Dial-up is dying."In the UK, AOL was toppled from the top spot as internet service provider in Warner spun off AOL in 2009. It was acquired by Verizon in 2015, which saw value in its mobile technology business and later merged it with Yahoo. Today, AOL and Yahoo are owned by Apollo Global.
CBC
a day ago
- Business
- CBC
AOL ends its dial-up service, an early internet relic still used in some remote areas
AOL is discontinuing its dial-up service, which helped millions of households connect to the web during the internet's formative years and was instantly recognizable for its beep-laden, scratch-heavy ring tone in the 1990s and early 2000s. The company, which once dominated as the world's largest internet provider, confirmed the move to CBC News on Sunday, saying it would discontinue dial-up as a subscription option on Sept. 30 "as we innovate to meet the needs of today's digital landscape." Dial-up services were a mainstay of the early internet — as famously depicted in the 1998 romantic comedy You've Got Mail — and involved using a phone line to connect devices to the web. Those of a certain age will recall that this meant choosing between your landline and your internet access. The company, which offered the service to customers in Canada and the U.S., didn't offer details about its existing dial-up clients. With much-speedier broadband internet access now the standard for web connection in North America, the end of dial-up service raises the question of who was still using it. "There are many parts of rural Canada that still do not have reliable access or any access to high-speed internet connectivity. And for them, dial-up is their only alternative," said technology analyst Carmi Levy in an interview with CBC News. "There are a number of regional or local players across the country that still provide low-cost dial-up access. The problem here is that the base, the internet as we know it, is no longer built for dial-up access. And so it's a technology that time really has passed by," Levy said. According to a CRTC report published earlier this year, 95 per cent of Canadians have access to high-speed internet. But broadband coverage in the country's three territories, as well as in rural areas and on First Nations reserves, is still catching up with the rest of Canada. CBC News reached out to the CRTC to ask how many Canadians are still making use of dial-up services, which falls under the "fixed internet" umbrella that the regulator tracks. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that about 163,000 households were using dial-up exclusively for internet service in 2023. "This isn't gonna affect a lot of people, but if you're one of those people who simply never transitioned off, it's pretty seismic," added Levy. "It means that at the end of September, you're losing the only access to the internet that you've ever known." Canada's major telecoms are scaling up fibre-optic networks for internet connectivity because they're capable of transferring data at high speeds and tend to be cost-effective. Satellite services — including SpaceX's Starlink — are also sometimes used for high-speed internet in rural and remote areas. Dana Ditomaso, a technology analyst in Victoria, B.C., noted that satellite coverage isn't always reliable or fulsome in less populated areas. "Especially if it's mountainous or there's a lot of trees, even satellite internet isn't going to work all that well because you need a clear line to the satellite," she noted. That's where the gap filled by dial-up services might exist — but Ditomaso doesn't expect any nostalgia-fuelled revival of the technology. "It's not gonna be like vinyl records, and people are like, 'I really want that dial-up experience,' you know?" she said.
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
Dial‑Up's Sign‑Off: Remembering AOL's Role In The Digital Revolution
The iconic beeps and tones of AOL's dialup connections will cease as of September 30. Getty Images This last week, AOL stated it is set to shut down the dial-up internet service that once was the symbol of internet connectivity after over 40 years. A company webpage titled " Dial-up Internet to be discontinued " states that the service will be stopped on September 30, 2025. The company says on the page that the shutdown follows a routine evaluation of its products and services. Back in the early 1990s, AOL had become synonymous with the internet itself. Its iconic "You've Got Mail" greeting represented more than just new messages—it symbolized a new era of connection for everyday people. At its peak, AOL's subscriber base soared into the tens of millions, each discovering the transformative power of email, instant messaging, and online communities. AOL's walled-garden approach gave users curated access, making technology approachable while at the same time sowing the seeds for the inevitable rise of open platforms. Back in the mid-1980s, one of the most exclusive and influential gatherings in the tech world was a conference simply called Agenda. It wasn't just another industry event—it was where the brightest minds and most prominent players in the PC revolution came together to shape the future. Year after year, tech visionaries like a young Bill Gates, Lotus founder Mitch Kapor, top brass from IBM, and virtually every major force driving the personal computer boom would converge to share bold ideas and chart the path for the year ahead. As a leading PC industry analyst at the time, I was fortunate to be invited into this inner circle—an experience that gave me a front-row seat to history in the making and lasting relationships with the people who were defining it. A decade later, in 1995, I found myself not just in the audience but on stage, presenting my vision for a "smart refrigerator"—a glimpse into the connected future that, at the time, sounded like science fiction. But there was one attendee who aspired to be a leader in the PC industry, who also came to this conference, named Steve Case. This timeframe was pre-Internet and pre-social media, and he had a vision of creating a service that would connect people through email and broadly focused message boards. His company was America Online - or AOL. I remember well my first meeting with Steve, where he laid out this vision and painted a picture of one-to-one communications around themes, personal interests, etc. At the time, we already had what were called message boards, but they were primarily focused on tech topics and populated by techies. But Steve Case's vision was aimed at people of all ages and interests around the world. Many of us who heard his vision were skeptical at first, but each year he would come back and share his progress and share what at first was marginal growth. But by the late 1980s, AOL had emerged as a major communication platform for the masses. I remember being in a small group that included Bill Gates, who probed Steve Case on his early success and wanted him to share his roadmap. To Mr. Case's credit, his vision and leadership played a crucial role in the digital revolution. AOL stands as an essential catalyst—one that connected millions to the promise of cyberspace at a time when the internet was mysterious, slow, and far from ubiquitous. AOL emerged in the 1980s as a dial-up service provider, initially targeting early PC users and leveraging its accessible interface to demystify online communication. What set AOL apart, and why it merits careful study, is the way it drove technology adoption cycles—a principle championed by analysts like me. AOL's growth reflected broader shifts in consumer attitudes, as we moved from isolation to hyper-connectivity. It was a crucial bridge between the walled software ecosystems of the early PC era and the radically open, decentralized web that followed. As broadband replaced dial-up and new competitors emerged, AOL faded, but its early impact on redefining the consumer's relationship with technology endures. By 1995, after Netscape introduced its Web Browser, it began to have an impact on AOL's future. Also, as more powerful telecom connections evolved, the need for dial-up began to fade. AOL merged with Time Warner in 2000 at the height of the internet bubble. The failure of the merger caused Time Warner to spin out AOL in 2009. In 2015, Verizon purchased AOL for $4.4 billion. At the time, AOL still had 2.1 million dial-up customers, according to CNBC . In the grand arc of the tech industry, AOL's story is a testament to how visionary thinking—and an emphasis on user experience—can mainstream technological change. The platform may be remembered for its fall, but we should never overlook its role in shaping the way the world communicates, learns, and connects. Disclosure: In 1989, Steve Case asked me to write a dedicated tech industry section, but as interests were broader for AOL users by then, this section never took off.
