AOL publicizes September shutdown for dial-up Internet entry

The firm’s cultural affect prolonged far past mere connectivity. AOL Instant Messenger launched many customers to real-time digital communication. Chat rooms created a number of the Internet’s first social networks. The well-known “You’ve Got Mail” notification turned so iconic that it was a title for a 1998 romantic comedy. For higher or worse, AOL key phrases skilled a era to navigate the online by way of corporate-curated portals moderately than open looking out.

Over the years, Ars Technica documented quite a few dial-up developments and disasters that plagued AOL customers. In 2015, 83-year-old Ron Dorff obtained telephone payments totaling $24,298.93 after his AOL modem began dialing a long-distance quantity as a substitute of a neighborhood entry level—an issue that had plagued customers since not less than 2002, when New York’s lawyer basic obtained greater than 50 complaints about comparable billing disasters.

The monetary dangers weren’t restricted to technical mishaps: AOL itself contributed to person frustration by repeatedly adjusting its pricing technique. In 2006, the corporate raised dial-up charges to $25.90 per thirty days—the identical value as broadband—in an try and push customers towards sooner connections. This adopted years of subscriber losses that noticed AOL’s person base fall over time as the corporate struggled with conflicting methods that included launching a $9.95 Netscape-branded service in 2003 whereas sustaining premium pricing for its principal providing.

The infrastructure that is still

AOL’s shutdown doesn’t suggest dial-up is totally lifeless. Several area of interest suppliers like NetZero, Juno, and Dialup 4 Less proceed to supply dial-up companies, significantly in areas the place it stays the one choice. In the previous, some maintained dial-up connections as a backup connection for emergencies, although many nonetheless use it for particular duties that do not require excessive bandwidth, like processing bank card funds.

The Public Switched Telephone Network that carries dial-up indicators nonetheless exists, although phone corporations more and more route calls by way of trendy packet-switched networks moderately than conventional circuit-switched methods. As lengthy as conventional telephone service exists, dial-up stays technically attainable—simply more and more impractical as the online grows extra demanding.

For AOL, sustaining dial-up service probably turned extra about serving a dwindling however dependent person base than producing significant income. The infrastructure necessities, buyer assist wants, and technical upkeep for such a legacy system ultimately outweigh the advantages.

The September 30 shutdown date provides remaining dial-up customers simply over one month now to search out different Internet entry—a problem for these in areas the place alternate options do not exist. Some could swap to satellite tv for pc or mobile companies regardless of increased prices. Others could lose Internet entry totally, additional widening the digital divide that dial-up, for all its limitations, helped bridge for 3 a long time.

This article was up to date on August 12, 2025 at 10:45 AM Eastern so as to add particulars about when AOL started providing true Internet entry.