Internet pioneer AOL is shuttering its dial-up service at the end of September after 30 years of providing its landline-based online connectivity.
“AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet,” the company said in announcing the move Monday.
The company expects discontinuation will impact few people, as AOL shifted its focus to other programs with the expanded availability of broadband internet connectivity, according to a spokesperson for AOL parent company Yahoo! Inc. CNBC reported in 2021 that the number of AOL dial-up subscribers was “in the low thousands.”
“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,” the Yahoo! spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill. “There is also no impact to our users’ free AOL email accounts.”
The company, which was previously known as America Online, made billions selling dial-up modem internet access — shepherding millions of users online for the first time as web technology grew in the 1990s.
