- AOL is shutting down its dial-up service, along with AOL Dialer software and AOL Shield browser.
- The service will retire on September 30th, 2025, after a 34-year long run.
- AOL's dial-up service brought the internet to many American households back in the 90s, but it slowly faded as high-speed internet connections took over.
AOL is shutting down its dial-up internet service on September 30th, marking the end of a 34-year-long era, along with AOL Dialer and AOL Shield browser. The dial-up service that brought the internet to many American households in the 90s is ready to close its doors forever.
As revealed in a statement from the company’s Help page, this may come as a surprise to veteran internet users, especially those who had their first taste of the World Wide Web, thanks to AOL’s internet service.
The Yahoo-owned company mentions in its statements, “AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet.” It further adds, “This service will no longer be available in AOL plans. 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.”
Even to this day, there are a few thousand users who still use AOL’s dial-up service in rural areas. But it is a far cry from the millions of users that it hosted back in its heyday. In today’s 5G era, it is no match for its competition. Everyone and their grandma have moved on to better alternatives like optical fiber, cable, or satellite connections.
With this, AOL dial-up joins its Messenger service that was laid to rest in December 2017, along with other 90s-era tech. Did you use AOL dial-up back in the day? If so, let us know in the comments below.
