CNBC AI News, August 10th—Remember the days of “bandwidth warning: image heavy,” a common refrain from the era of 56K dial-up? That era is officially closing, as AOL is set to terminate its dial-up service this September.
As antiquated as that meme, is AOL, once a titan of the internet. The company, a pioneer in the early days of the web, has struggled to regain its footing after multiple acquisitions. Attempts to reinvent itself and capitalize on emerging trends – from portal websites and search engines to mobile internet and the current AI boom – have largely fallen short.
While AOL may still hold nostalgic value for a dwindling number of dial-up loyalists, the company has announced it will end its dial-up internet service, the Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS)-based internet connection, on September 30, 2025.
AOL’s dial-up service, a gateway to the internet for many, has been around for 34 years.
The dial-up shutdown will also see the demise of two related services: the AOL Dialer software and the AOL Shield browser. With dial-up gone, the Dialer becomes obsolete, and AOL’s browser likely has a negligible user base.
The end of this 34-year-old service is marked by a simple announcement on AOL’s website, a reflection of how far the company and the internet have come.
While 56K dial-up may seem like ancient history, there were an estimated 2.5 million users in the US a decade ago, and recent surveys suggest that around 250,000 users remain stuck in the pre-broadband era, presumably in remote areas where fiber optic or satellite internet infrastructure lacks an economic argument.
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