AOL, the pioneering internet service now operated as a Yahoo sub-brand, will discontinue its dial-up internet access on 30 September 2025, according to a notice posted on its support website. The shutdown also covers the legacy AOL Dialer software and the AOL Shield browser, products originally designed for older operating systems and low-bandwidth connections. “AOL routinely evaluates its products and services and has decided to discontinue Dial-up Internet,” the company said. A Yahoo spokesperson added that the move will not affect users’ free AOL email accounts or other plan benefits, but remaining dial-up customers will need to migrate to another internet provider before the deadline. Introduced in 1991, AOL’s dial-up service became synonymous with early home internet, reaching about 25 million subscribers by 2000. Usage collapsed as broadband spread; CNBC reported “low-thousands” of paying customers in 2021, while U.S. Census data for 2023 still counted roughly 163,000 Americans on any form of dial-up, many in rural areas lacking high-speed alternatives. The closure underscores the long decline of a brand that once mailed millions of free trial CDs and popularised the phrase “You’ve got mail.” AOL merged with Time Warner in 2001, was bought by Verizon for $4.4 billion in 2015 and, alongside Yahoo, was sold to Apollo Global Management for $5 billion in 2021. Ending dial-up severs one of the last remaining links to the company’s original business.