AOL to end dial-up internet access after three decades

AOL’s shutdown of its dial-up internet marks the end of a nostalgic chapter in online history.

You already know the onomatopoeias associated with dial-up internet – screech, crackle, whir.

Trying to recall what it was like in the late nineties is like plugging in the cable itself. Not the easiest thing to get started when your memory trips.

Still, it’s worth pausing on the fact that what began in the 1970s with Usenet, then CompuServe in ’79, and AOL’s own arrival in 1985, is now finally winding down.

AOL’s shutdown is more than just a business decision – it’s a last wave goodbye to a foundational chapter in internet history.

In the 1990s, AOL ruled the online world with 23 million US subscribers and its endlessly parodied “You’ve got mail” greeting.

College students simply loved chatting on AIM, AOL’s instant messenger, the main rival to Microsoft’s MSN.

At its peak in 1999, AOL even swallowed Time Warner in a $165 billion mega-merger – one of the biggest in media history.

It was supposed to blend old media with a digital edge that never quite managed to take off, with many tech enthusiasts considering it a flop.

Arguably, cable internet’s arrival in the mid-90s, piggybacking on existing TV lines, was the first nail in the coffin for analog connections.

The onset of broadband and fiber optic cables put the final nail in the coffin, so to speak.

Today, only around 175,000 US households still use dial-up – mostly in rural or underserved pockets.

When AOL pulls the plug, it won’t just be the end of a service, but another piece of nostalgic tech joining the pile with CDs, pagers, and landlines.

I’ll share my misty-eyed memory anyway – when I was a teenager, my friends and I used to get home from school, after seeing each other all day, chat online, and effectively block off the landline access for anyone else that was trying to call.

Once, I remember my mother trying to call, asking what we’d like from the local fish and chip shop. But I was so glued to the screen that I sent my brother out to buy some, and they came back with double haddock.

Dial-up’s disappearance is another reminder of how quickly technology shifts – and how what once felt modern can slip quietly into history.