AOL announces it’s ending its dial-up internet service

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. As a result, on September 30, 2025 this service and the associated software, the AOL Dialer software and AOL Shield browser, which are optimized for older operating systems and dial-up internet connections, will be discontinued.
↫ AOL support document

I’ve seen a few publications writing derisively about this, surprised dial-up internet is still a thing, but I think that’s misguided and definitely a bit elitist. In a country as large as the United States, there’s bound to be quite a few very remote and isolated places where dial-up might be the best or even only option to get online. On top of that, I’m sure there are people out there who use the internet so sparingly that dial-up may suit their needs just fine.

I genuinely hope this move by AOL doesn’t cut a bunch of people off of the internet without any recourse, especially if it involves, say, isolated and lonely seniors to whom such changes may be too difficult to handle. Access to the internet is quite crucial in the modern world, and we shouldn’t be ridiculing people just because they don’t have access to super high-speed broadband.