AOL, You Got Me With This One
AOL just hit me with some news I didn’t see coming: they’re officially discontinuing their dial-up service.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I thought dial-up was long gone—like floppy disks and Blockbuster stores. Turns out, it’s been quietly hanging on this whole time. But as of September 30th, at least through AOL, it’s officially done.
From the company itself:
> “AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet. This service will no longer be available in AOL plans,” according to AOL.
And… that’s it?
We’ve all talked about how the internet is slowly dying—not disappearing, but changing in ways that make it feel less real. Artificial intelligence is certainly helping speed that along. So are bots, spam, and fake accounts pretending to be real people. But at least with dial-up, you could count on one thing: if someone was using it, they were definitely a real person. They were out there, patiently (or impatiently) suffering through the endless hang-ups, busy signals, and painfully slow connections.
What worries me is that one day, we might actually need that phone line again. All it takes is one big asteroid or comet knocking a few satellites out of orbit, and suddenly those “ancient” connections start looking pretty useful again.
September 30th—mark it down.
A day for dial-up that will live in infamy..
And just for that nostalgic melancholy hears the old sounds for your enjoyment.
