Short Tutorial/FAQ – How Many Americans Still Use Dial-up Internet?

Question: I heard AOL is ending its dial-up internet service soon. How many American still use dial-up?

Answer: AOL is discontinuing its dial-up service on September 30th, 2025. This service helped millions of households connect to the web during the internet's formative years and was instantly recognizable for its beep-laden, scratch-heavy ring tone in the 1990s and early 2000s. AOL dial-up service was famously depicted in the 1998 romantic comedy You've Got Mail starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.

If you're of a certain age, you'll recall that dial-up service involved using a phone line to connect your computer to the web. At any given time, you had to choose between being on a call and accessing the internet, since you couldn't do both simultaneously.

Even as broadband and wireless internet became the predominant types, some Americans — especially in rural or remote areas — continued to use dial-up service. It's estimated that about 175,000 U.S. households currently rely on dial-up service for internet access.