KYLE MURPHYStaff Writer

Online service provider AOL has announced it will be pulling the plug on its dial-up internet service next month.

“AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet,” AOL representatives said. “This service will no longer be available in AOL plans.”

The service, which for many was how they first got online decades ago, will be shuttered on Sept. 30 as well as any associated software, such as the AOL Dialer software and AOL Shield browser, which were optimized for older operating systems and dial-up internet connections.

While the idea of using dial-up internet seems nonexistent, it’s not as far-fetched as one would think according to the U.S. Census Bureau. According to data from a survey conducted in 2023, out of an estimated 131,332,360 internet subscriptions in households, the number of households that used dial-up services was an estimated 163,401.

AOL’s dial-up service joins the list of internet services and programs to be delisted in the last few years. AOL’s instant messaging service, AIM, was shut down in 2017, while Microsoft pulled the plug on both the internet browser Internet Explorer in 2022 and internet calling service Skype this past May.

So until then, anyone with the sudden rush of nostalgia of hearing the dial-up sound, while hoping no one picked up the landline phone as it will disconnect the internet, can go down memory lane on YouTube and find one video of the sound bite that has accumulated 19 million views.