With the shutdown of AOL’s dial-up internet in late September, the iconic sounds, symbols, and experiences that ushered millions of Americans into the early digital age will come to an end.

AOL, or America Online, announced recently that it has evaluated its products and services and will discontinue dial-up connectivity options, ceasing support for its dial-up software as of September 30th.

These dates signal the end of an era for countless Americans from various generations: millennials, Gen X, Baby Boomers, and beyond. The familiar sounds of modems establishing connections and the excitement of getting online marked the dawn of a new era filled with wires, computer mice, emails, chat rooms, instant messaging, and the bright allure of digital screens.

Dial-up internet didn’t emerge in isolation; it was developed by Usenet in the late 1970s.

In 1979, Compuserve became the first to offer “Dial-Up Online Information Services to Consumers.”

By the mid-1980s, virtual communities started to emerge with platforms like The Well, which was founded in the Bay Area by Stewart Brand and Larry Brilliant, coinciding with the founding of America Online in 1985.

At its peak, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, AOL boasted over 23 million subscribers in the United States, solidifying its status as the leading internet service provider of that era. As noted by Jigso AI, new users were acquired approximately every six seconds.

AOL became a household name with its distinct “You’ve got mail!” notification, but it also became infamous in 1999 after a controversial merger, which is often viewed as one of the most disastrous deals in media history.

Gradually, the iconic sounds of dial-up began to fade as faster cable internet services emerged in 1995, leveraging existing cable television infrastructure.

Today, only a small fraction of U.S. households (around 175,000) still depend on dial-up internet access. This legacy technology stems from the intense rivalry between Microsoft and Netscape in the 1980s and 90s. As AI encroaches upon browsing, the days of dial-up seem ever more distant.

The rise of dial-up internet was partially fueled by demand for adult content, and its decline is now seen as part of the nostalgic farewell to other bygone pop culture artifacts, such as CDs, pagers, and landlines.