Now now. Some of us remember a time when that modem sound was as comforting as getting a wireless signal is today.

I just remember making myself dizzy in between web pages by spinning around in the computer chair while Aol Kids! loaded. Also hacking into my dad's account to take the parental controls off so I could read fan fiction.

Ah...the modem sound. Every time I hear spam come in on the office fax machine it brings back memories of 1995.

Not surprising - they're actively trying to get out of the dial-up business.

Dude, my phone has a faster connection than dial-up.

This is so great, I'm going to type it up on my Commedore 64C and listen to the shoo shoo scratch, scratch, scratch as my dot matrix prints it out for me to hang on my wall right next to my ALF poster.

Makes sense -- up the price to clean out your cheap and annoying customers.

local BBS's on 2400 modem ruled. So did ANSI art. except when going to meets and discovering that girl with the sexy voice you've been talking to is 2 bills!! I loved 1994 anyway :) I was the youngin 13 year old

So when you call for the 15th time to try to cancel your AOL account, that means you need to be upgraded to the more expensive account.

(Are they still giving lip service to people who want to cancel?)

Mmmm, 1994, when pr0n took overnight to download...

No phone based help unless dealing with an internet connection issue. I've typically seen internet connection issues as the point of tech support.

I think they might be trying to drive off the people who call tech support with problems defined as "It don't work!" with an unplugged monitor, or "Your internet is broken." when the power is out. Trying to please customers like that takes so much time, it makes North American tech support too expensive. Considering a few I've dealt with like that, it makes outsourced tech support too expensive.

Well, that's just a guess. $10 a month doesn't leave much wiggle room for perks.

It is finally possible to get rid of AOL without talking to someone or any run around. Looks like the kinda encourage it

[bill.aol.com]

That is hilarious. I wish I could do this with family members. "I'll give you marginally better birthday presents if you promise to never call me."

is this even relevant? I mean who still uses dialup except those who need to check their mail in the boonies.

Just moved, less that 30 miles from DC and have no other option but dial-up or SAT. Still like it better than living inside the beltway.

What's funny is I've been debating getting dial-up access for my grandmother's house for when I'm there and need to check my email or whatever and then I remember that spending time with my grandmother is more important than reading email.

@floyderdc: Where outside of DC are you? I live in Sterling and I've got FiOS here... it took a while but I've got it.

Or were you referring to the only option outside using comcrap?

I got a friend that can make a connection with a 2400 baud modem just by whistling. I think I still have my little phreak box somewhere in the closet, ah old times...

@battra92: IF checking your email is that important, get a smartphone.

Amazing people still use this crap

@krispykrink: Dude that's awesome

For obsolete companies like AOL and NetZero, the writing's on the wall. Dead man walking!

@liquidsgi: I didn't even realize AOL still had customers.

@DeeJayQueue: i'm guessing he is in warrenton or maryland somewhere because loudon, fairfax, prince william, and stafford all have mutiple options to dial up. i've had comcast since 1999 and have'nt had one problem yet.

@ outsiderlookingn . lol.

once as a senior in high school i signed up for aol for free 3 months (even though i already had another dial up) because my old one would disconnect after 10 mins of inactivity (and i wanted to get IMs on my away messages!)

anyhow i kept calling to cancel and they would extend me another 3 months, another 2 months or etc. finally i was like i've been trying to cancel for almost a year now.. and i'm going to college now and have no need for it.

I can think of one situation where dial-up is still relevant.

Really small businesses... sole proprietorships where every dollar matters. Some doctor just needs to check his e-mail a couple times a week. Why get a dedicated line to do that? That same doctor might have high-speed internet at home, but at the office he's happy with $9.95 a month for slow access to check his e-mail a couple times a week.

frankly aol is doing people a favor. hell, raise it to $50 a month and force these people to get broadband. welcome to 2008 and get high speed internet.

@aaron8301: which would cost more than $10 a month since I have the most basic of basic plans.

I was making a point that while I once considered my email to be that important, my friends and family are much more valuable.

AOL was only 9.99? I remember almost 10 years ago I had to pay ~$24 bucks for unlimited access.

@humphrmi:

I can think of one situation where dial-up is still relevant.

Try living in on an unincorporated stretch of land somewhere along I-20 in Texas. dial-up is the only choice over Hughes-net. BTW, coming from someone who has gone the Hughes-net route... I'll take dial-up every damn time.

@superlayne: I remember the AOL days when I would go into public chats with a punter and boot people offline...then my parents knocked me down to a kids only account so i installed a keylogger and got my father password and changed it back. I was then inspired to learn Visual Basic so I could make my own aol "progs" which in turned got me into web development (so I could promote my programs) which again in turn got me into networking.

Thanks AOL! So easy to use no wonder it was number 1.

I was fired at a local tech support plant of about 1000 people who very strictly follow AOL speel. no thinking allowed, clock is ticking, ticking, no thinking, script rules. A thousand AOL robots.....

What is this "DIAL-UP" of which you speak?

@parad0x360: Hey, a public service announcement to all those kids who might want to put a key logger on their parents computer for whatever reason:

The only thing worse than knowing what nastiness your kid is looking up online is knowing what your parents are looking up online.

@jasonnellis: mmm modem sound, music to a kids' ears, till it drops

Why get dial-up when you can have naked DSL from Bellsouth for 12 dollars a month?

It was in the merger terms for AT&T and Bellsouth back in 06 and I helped a friend finally get on to broadband because of it.

@parad0x360: Heh.. I used to do that, too! I remember one time when I was 12 or 13, I tried signing on to AOL but I received an error message saying that my account had been reported for too many TOS violations. So I had to call customer service, apologize for what I had done, and practically beg for them to remove the violations.

Oh, AOL. Those sure were the good old days.

@bravo369: this isn't japan. There are millions of people who can either a: only get dial up, or b: get $10 dial up or pay $60 for sat what others can get for $20 "in town"

Dial-up? What, is this 1996? There is not one place in the continental United States where one is unable to get broadband service.

i had dial up at home till last year - i was in school and had access to high speed while on campus, and would do most of my internet heavy stuff there. but, wanted cheap access at home for checking email on the weekend, or do other simple research things without going into campus everytime. paying $4.95 an month for that since i didn't want any of the otherstuff (phone line, cable) seemed to make sense. So, dial up is still relevant for people with simple internet needs and looow budgets who can't cough up $50/month or more....

AOL is still around? And I'm not being sarcastic, for some reason I thought they were long gone.

I've been on high speed for about 11 years now and I pray to never have to go back to dial-up. It's like this: if I have no cable I will not watch TV and if I have no high speed I will not use the internet. It seems like some things just aren't worth it and slow internet really isn't worth using. My aunt and uncle live in the middle of nowhere and they live 450 feet off the road, they fought with Charter to install a tap with a booster on it halfway to their house and finally they have high speed and I know my aunt is not gonna go back either. I have 10mbps and that is not fast enough for me at times. BTW I was an AOL customer for 7 years. I miss some of the chat rooms on there and the ability to search profiles, since I made tons of local friends on there but I truly don't miss it too much at all.

Dial-up's still not free?

@BoomerFive: I thought the same about NetZero.

Oh my God. Remember Juno? Is Juno still around? Memmmmmooreeeeeeeee *cue Cats sdtk*

Who wants to pay 9,99$ for dial-up anyway? Price for dial-up varies from 4,95 to 8,95 at AOL's competitors.

Hey! Stop pickin on us dial uppers! I live in bump fuck nowhere and I have no choice :( Not even a clear view of the southern sky for freakin satellite internet.

P.S.- The sound of a modem dialing up is about as comforting as suckin on your mothers tit at 30 years old.

@RetailGuy83: YES!! Hughes Net reaks of hooker sweat and mice droppings.

I had Wild Blue until we moved to the adirondacks - they were great for satellite internet, although slower than I'd like.

PakMail!

@humphrmi: Except the difference between AOL and the cheapest cable/DSL packages can be 10 or 15 bucks, and a doctor can easily afford the difference.