By John Q. Hosedrinker 
AOL, the company known for its “You’ve got mail” greeting and ubiquitous trial CDs, is discontinuing its dial-up internet service. This decision, announced on AOL’s website, will end the service, along with the AOL Dialer software and AOL Shield browser, on September 30th. The dial-up service, which used telephone lines and emitted a distinct chirping sound, was a staple of internet access in the 1990s. AOL, now part of Yahoo and previously owned by Verizon, was sold to Apollo Global Management in 2021.
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AOL ditching dial-up service, a relic of the internet in the ’90s and early ’00s, it seems like a chapter closing on a very specific era. You’ve got mail – the iconic greeting that many of us probably haven’t heard in years, but which immediately brings back a flood of memories. It’s almost unbelievable that dial-up was still hanging on for so long. Just the thought of it feels like a trip back in time to a world where internet access involved a cacophony of screeching tones and the agonizing wait for a webpage to load.
I am genuinely curious about the people still clinging to this technology. What were their motivations? Did it come down to affordability, a need for simplicity, or perhaps just a stubborn refusal to change? Maybe they live in an area where other options are still limited. It’s also fascinating to consider the technology that sustained it; how many people were relying on it in 2025, the year that the article seems to be referencing?
Back in the day, the AOL CDs were everywhere. They were almost a currency. You couldn’t walk into a store without tripping over a stack. I remember using the CDs for all kinds of things. I made mosaic patterns with them, and I’m sure many people used them for target practice. It’s funny to think of them now as relics of a bygone era.
As for the speed, I remember the upgrade from 28.8k to 56k feeling like a monumental leap. I vaguely recall the mention of 128k, though it seems impossible that anyone was paying for dial-up at those speeds in recent times. It’s hard to imagine what browsing the web would be like now with dial-up. The thought of webpages taking ten minutes to load makes my head spin!
The idea of someone needing extra memory to “download the Internet” perfectly encapsulates the excitement and the limitations of the early internet. It shows a time when the internet was new and almost magical, but also slow and clunky. And the stories about the frustrations when a dial-up connection dropped, the frustration of having to reconnect, it’s a very relatable feeling for anyone who used dial-up.
It’s fascinating to think about the AOL’s cultural impact. For a whole generation, AOL was the internet. The “You’ve got mail” notification was a cultural touchstone. The whole experience, the sound, the software, the design was unique to AOL. Even the installation “coasters” – those CDs that came in the mail, it shows you how different things were.
The fact that AOL dial-up lasted so long also highlights the importance of legacy systems and how difficult it can be to let go of older technologies. It is a testament to the dedication of certain users, or perhaps the lack of accessible alternatives.
The thought of people having to teach their grandparents how to get online is amusing, and it underlines how rapidly the digital landscape has evolved. It highlights the generational divide that can sometimes be exacerbated by technology. It makes you consider the evolution of online culture and how the internet has changed.
Ultimately, AOL’s dial-up service leaving the scene feels like more than just the end of a service; it’s the end of a certain period. It is the end of an era. The world moves on, and this is another small step in that process.