Just in case you still use it!

[Larry Fravel]

AOL Dials Down

AOL ends its dial-up service today after more than 35 years. The decision, announced last month, marks the end of a service once synonymous with accessing the internet. When the company (then called America Online) launched dial-up in 1989, it was among the first. The approach used a modem to convert computer data into audio signals, which could then travel over phone lines. The dial-up tone (see explanation) was so ubiquitous in the 1990s that it was considered part of the soundtrack of the decade, with the service inspiring Nora Ephron’s hit 1998 rom-com "You’ve Got Mail." At its height in 1999, AOL boasted over 18 million subscribers with a market capitalization of $222B.  Broadband internet overtook dial-up in the mid-2000s, thousands of times faster than the service’s 56 kilobits per second speed. Still, roughly 163,000 Americans relied on AOL in 2023—a little over 0.1% of the US population. The company today offers email, media, and data services.