The pioneering service has dwindled to a Yahoo sub-brand, but some people still rely on it for their online connection. Come Sept. 30, they’ll need a new ISP.
Sometime in the dying moments of September, what was once a daily habit for much of the online world will happen for the last time: a dial-up modem will screech its way to connecting to AOL.
The Yahoo subsidiary broke the news in an undated tech-support note titled « Dial-up Internet to be discontinued. »
“AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet,” the note says. “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.”
Like dial-up access in general, that note appears to have been widely ignored at first. But then tech journalist Ernie Smith flagged it in posts Friday night on Bluesky and Mastodon, sparking extended rounds of reminiscing.
In a Bluesky direct message, Smith said “social cues and search info” led him to think that page was posted within the last two weeks. The oldest reference I’ve found to it is an Aug. 2 post on X.
“This change does not impact the numerous other valued products and services that these subscribers are able to access and enjoy as part of their plans,” a Yahoo spokesperson said in a statement emailed Saturday.
