AOL, now a Yahoo subsidiary owned by Apollo Global Management, will discontinue its dial-up Internet access on 30 September 2025, ending a 34-year run that began in 1991. The company disclosed the move in a notice on its support site, saying it “routinely evaluates its products and services.” The shutdown affects a tiny but persistent customer base. CNBC reported that AOL’s dial-up subscribers had fallen to the “low thousands” by 2021, a steep drop from about 25 million at the height of the dot-com boom. U.S. Census Bureau data indicate roughly 163,000 households nationwide still relied exclusively on dial-up connections in 2023, many in rural areas where broadband remains limited or costly. Along with the access service, AOL will retire its legacy AOL Dialer software and AOL Shield browser. The decision does not affect free AOL e-mail accounts or other Yahoo-branded offerings, but remaining dial-up users will need to switch to alternative providers such as fixed wireless, satellite or other regional ISPs. The move closes another chapter in early Internet history. AOL—founded as Quantum Computer Services in 1985—popularised consumer online access through mailed trial CDs and its “You’ve Got Mail” greeting. Verizon bought the firm for $4.4 billion in 2015 before selling it, along with Yahoo, to Apollo in 2021. AOL previously shut its Instant Messenger service in 2017, and Microsoft retired Skype earlier this year, underscoring the steady disappearance of once-dominant digital brands.