AOL dial-up Internet is ending in September. It lasted 34 years, long after a peak when it handled a claimed 40 percent of US online traffic.

Exactly how many people were still subscribing is unclear. Several surveys in recent years estimated around 250,000-300,000 dial-up users in the United States, which AOL dominated in the remaining market. A couple of smaller companies do still offer the service in limited areas. AOL will continue as a business but is now primarily offering security tools. (Source: bbc.co.uk)

While many Infopackets readers likely remember dial-up, for the few who have never encountered the concept it was the early way users got on line. A modem converted computer data into an audio signal sent over a phone line, with two notable effects.

Free CDs Flood Market

The user would hear an initial and distinctive screeching pattern as the computer established a connection. Meanwhile, the phone line would be tied up as long as the user was online, making voice calls impossible. For most users, the maximum theoretical speed was 56 kilobits per second. For context, the current official definition of broadband in the US is 100 megabits per second, which is 1,786 times faster.

AOL dominated early broadband thanks partly to distributing free CDs for installing the necessary software. It initially operated a walled garden model where the primary way of accessing information online was to visit specific themed areas controlled by AOL, rather than browsing the entire web with a web browser like Chrome or Edge.

It also had a dedicated email application with a famed "You've Got Mail" sound clip when a new message arrived, which even inspired a 1998 romantic comedy movie with the same name (starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan).

Dial-up Dies Off

Dial-up fell from favor, overtaken in popularity around 2005 by broadband. While today the term simply refers to speed, originally it meant a technology that split a phone line. This allowed a constant connection to the Internet without the need to "dial up" a connection, with simultaneous voice calls still possible.

Why dial-up continued to exist in at least a measurable level for two decades after that is a mystery. In some cases, people in rural areas had no choice because companies didn't consider it financially worthwhile to install broadband networks. That's lessened thanks to a combination of government subsidies and alternative connection methods such as cellular phone and satellite systems. (Source: lifehacker.com)

What's Your Opinion?

Did you use AOL dial-up? Are you surprised people were still using it in 2025? Why do you think they stuck with it?