Like TV screen static, a VHS tape rewinding, or a butter churn, the grating sound of AOL dial-up Internet will also soon be a thing of the past.

As the company announced in August on its support website, "Dial-up Internet to be discontinued." As of Sept. 30, the site notes, "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."

That's not good news for those folks still relying on dial-up, mainly in rural areas in the US and where broadband is unavailable. Data from the 2019 census revealed that 265,331 people relied solely on dial-up internet.

"We are discontinuing the dial-up internet service component included in certain legacy AOL Advantage

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