Aol Pulls The Plug On Dial-up - A Reminder That 'dead' Tech Has A Long Expiration Date

AOL / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Generation X says goodbye to nan past.
• Old exertion tin linger agelong aft you thought it was dormant and done.
• AOL, erstwhile a exertion giant, is now small much than a footnote.

For millions of group who first heard "You've sewage mail" complete crackling telephone lines, an iconic section successful integer history is coming to a close. AOL, besides known arsenic America Online, has announced it will unopen down its dial-up net service connected Sept. 30, 2025, efficaciously retiring a exertion that was erstwhile synonymous pinch getting online.

You've sewage mail

Even if you've ne'er utilized it, AOL became synonymous pinch nan early days of nan celebrated internet, acknowledgment to nan rom-com "You've Got Mail," starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The movie was a taste touchstone.

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AOL is nan past of nan services, such arsenic CompuServe, GEnie, and Prodigy, which enabled group to spell online earlier nan Commercial Internet Exchange and nan web started america connected our measurement to nan online acquisition we cognize today. AOL, however, dissimilar its rivals, embraced nan net alternatively than trying to conflict it.

The consequence was that AOL's dial-up web introduced nan net to households crossed nan state successful nan 1990s. From 1995's cardinal users, AOL grew to complete 34 cardinal subscribers by 1997. The distinctive sounds of a modem connecting were arsenic well-known arsenic nan company's ubiquitous CDs, which promised hours of free net erstwhile tossed into millions of mailboxes.

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The institution dreamed past that, aft its merger pinch Time-Warner, it would beryllium worthy billions more. At nan time, nan integration of nan firms was nan largest firm merger successful nan US. In January 2000, AOL was nan US's biggest Internet Service Provider (ISP) and was worthy billions. In March of that year, nan dot-com crash helped move dreams into nightmares.

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Dial-up is hardly hanging on

As broadband, cable, and fiber-optic connections swept crossed nan country, speeds soared, and dial-up became a relic. Dial-up is hardly hanging on, mostly successful agrarian pockets wherever deployment of modern net broadband has lagged.

Even now, tens of thousands of users still entree nan net via their AOL modem accounts. While AOL only says that it "routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet," I powerfully fishy nan decease knell was nan emergence of high-speed, albeit much expensive, net services specified arsenic Starlink and T-Mobile 5G Broadband, which tin present high-speed broadband to agrarian areas.

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According to nan 2020 census, there are still 163,000 dial-up users. To support these users connected, a handful of ISPs connection dial-up service. These ISPs are DSL Extreme, Juno, and NetZero. Whether these providers connection a section telephone number successful your area is different mobility entirely.

Fun while it lasted

AOL's announcement has sparked a activity of online nostalgia. For many, nan news triggered memories of first web experiences, chat rooms filled pinch amateur sites and animated GIFs, and nan days erstwhile picking up nan landline meant getting booted offline.

Thanks to my schoolhouse and past my authorities connections, I was utilizing nan net agelong earlier AOL came connected nan scene. As personification who was an aged feline connected nan nett moreover then, I callback really we'd make nosy of each those noobs coming successful via AOL, who didn't cognize nan first point astir Usenet groups, Gopher, and different early net services. Now, those memories are only footnotes to history. If you unrecorded agelong enough, everything that was erstwhile caller turns old.

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As for AOL, nan institution has been bounced from proprietor to proprietor and has consistently declined. AOL became portion of Verizon successful 2015, past merged pinch Yahoo, and was later sold to Apollo Global Management successful 2021. Now, pinch nan status of dial-up, AOL joins different integer mainstays successful closing nan books connected nan early internet, pursuing services for illustration AOL's erstwhile wildly celebrated instant messenger work AIM, Skype, and Internet Explorer.

AOL itself is still around, offering email, and that's astir it. As it happens, I person 2 bully friends who are still utilizing their aol.com email addresses. How agelong they'll beryllium capable to support those accounts is different matter. It won't astonishment maine if those past remnants of nan erstwhile ubiquitous online work will soon vanish arsenic well.

I'm sorry to spot dial-up go. It was awesome nosy while it lasted. And I'll ever grin erstwhile I perceive a modem connecting.

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