At its peak in 1999, AOL had 18 million users|Coolcaesar|CC BY-SA 3.0

After more than four decades, AOL, originally known as America Online, will officially shut down its iconic dial-up internet service on September 30, the company posted on its website.

Once the gateway to the web for millions, AOL’s chirping modem tones defined early online access, topping out at speeds of 56 kbps in its prime.

By 1995, AOL had 10 million users, and at its peak in 1999, it had 18 million customers.

However, faster broadband connections eventually made dial-up obsolete.

When it was sold to Verizon in 2015 for $4.4 billion, it had 2.1 million users. It was acquired by Apollo Global Management in 2021 and reportedly had users in “the low thousands.”