After 40 years, AOL has put to rest a service that was vital in shaping modern technology: dial-up internet.
“AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet,” the company announced in August.
“ … 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.”
While many internet users may not remember (or are not old enough to have used) a dial-up internet service, for those who have and do remember — the announcement serves as a glaring sign of the times.
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Dial-up internet took off in the 1990s as internet became more accessible to the everyday person, whereas previously it was only really accessible to college institutes and the government.
In 1992, Sprint was the first company to launch dial-up internet commercially — making it accessible to the general public.
The technology used a computer’s modem to convert data into audio signals that could be transmitted over a telephone line.
On the other line, an internet service provider had another modem to convert these signals back into data that allowed users to access the internet.
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The dial-up system made using the internet and the phone impossible to do at the same time, an idea that younger internet users probably can’t imagine thanks to smart phone capabilities.
Now, internet users can talk on the phone while scrolling through countless web pages and apps.
But back in the day, users would have to dial a specific phone number provided by an internet service provider to get online through a computer’s modem.
Once the internet service provider’s modem answered, they would preform a “handshake” of loud hissing and chirping.
According to BBC, less than 300,000 people in the U.S. reported having dial-up internet compared to 300 million having broadband internet, citing 2023 government estimates.