Posted on 08/11/2025 11:37:41 AM PDT by Olog-hai
AOL, once a dominant force in the early days of the Internet, has announced the end of its dial-up Internet service, marking the closure of a significant chapter in the history of online connectivity.
Apple Inside reports that after more than four decades of providing dial-up Internet access to millions of users worldwide, American Online has decided to discontinue its iconic service. The company, which started as a very early Apple service in the 1980s, played a crucial role in ushering in the Internet age for countless individuals. Although many readers will be surprised to learn that dial-up internet was still available in the era of broadband and 5G, the company reportedly had thousands of dial-up customers remaining.
In a recent support page update, AOL informed customers that its dial-up service, along with its associated software, AOL Dialer and AOL Shield, will be discontinued on September 30, 2025. The company stated that it routinely evaluates its products and services but did not disclose the specific reasons behind the decision to end dial-up access. However, the ubiquity of faster, more modern Internet connections is likely the primary factor. …
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
September 30!!!!!! jerks, now that video will never finish downloading.
“”””Remember in the mid to late 1990’s where the average person would describe a website by saying:
“Double-you, Double-you, Double-you”””””
I was surprised how recently people were still asking “.com?” when you would give them your email as smith@gmail, or @hotmail, etc.
How will I send my Lotus 123 spreadsheets now?
I had it and still have an AOL email address.
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Ditto. AOL mail still works and the spam rate is pretty small. Whatever filtering they use is very good.
Dial up went the way of the floppy disk and the printer driver.
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Yeah printer drivers are still out there. You just don’t see it anymore.
I have unix boxes and a laser printer that understands Postscript natively - no external drivers required. I don’ need no steenkin’ drivers (grin).
I had no idea that dial up still existed.
This kind of like when I heard Western Union ended telegrams.
Sometimes technology just dies, usually without notice.
Dial up is still in use with three other providers including Net Zero.
The modems are still in use in remote locations for transactions such as ATMs. They're also still used with some industrial machines, and equipment that only connects within a closed-loop.
Back in 2017, Verizon transferred all their customers' Verizon email accounts over to AOL.
https://www.theinternetpatrol.com/verizon-gets-rid-of-email-sends-verizon-email-users-to-aol/
A friend of mine joined the Navy, was trained in Russian, sent to the Aleutians, and was told to listen for that distinctive sequence of beeps that modems make. They wanted to know if the Russians had fax machines and internet service.
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