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AOL still has 3.5 million dial-up subscribers

Yes, you read that right. 3.5 million people still use AOL for dial-up service.

First off, I can’t imagine having dial-up still. The slow speeds of dial-up would absolutely kill me. On top of that, the sounds that my computer used to make when connecting to dial-up would drive me insane. But alas, AOL has managed to hold on to 3.5 million customers. Part of this is that some people simply don’t use the internet often enough to justify spending much on internet (AOL’s rates for dial-up service have actually dropped since 2006). The other part of this is that some rural areas simply do not have the infrastructure to support broadband connections.

So, does the number of dial-up subscribers surprise you? Would you be able to deal with a dial-up connection again?

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20 Responses to “AOL still has 3.5 million dial-up subscribers”

  • That’s mind boggling. The only way I would even consider using AOL as a dial up service is if it was only $2.99/month with regards to service fee. Anything more, I might as well utilize a low cost, moderate speed internet service provider.

    • $2.99 a month even seems kind of high considering barely anyone uses land lines these days anway. I agree, though I can’t remember the last time I used a dial-up connection and can’t even remember what kind of websites were around at that point.

  • Dial up is garbage in my eyes these days. Could you even load videos or the high quality pictures on the web? Whats the point of dial up – I feel like it would only be beneficial to text only websites since most websites host ads with video in them already.

  • I hope the speed of the dial up increased because I remember it being really slow when I used it. I can’t imagine going back to using dial up. To get a second phone line so that I could use dial up internet wouldn’t even be worth the cost.

  • It still exists? Price is very reasonable, but still, dial-up is to outdated and slow for my liking.

  • Yes, the number of dial-up subscribers surprise me since it is can hold 3.5 million users. In my experience, It is very slow network and sometimes the internet get cut because there are a lot of people use it at the same time. I rather pay more to get the faster service. I don’t think people still use AOL a lot nowadays.

  • It doesn’t surprise me in that a lot of internet services are expensive monthly bills. I suspect the dial up subscribers are people who can’t afford higher services monthly or those who do not need the internet like most people. Is the 3.5 million all in the U.S? There might be some locations that are not set up equipment wise for other internet services or those services might not even be offered.

  • Yes, having 3.5 million people still subscribed to dial-up is definitely surprising. I would personally never be able to live with a dial-up connection. Waiting for one page to load and downloading one song could take up to a half and hour. On top of that the land line to the house would be disrupted and no one would be able to reach on it. Hooray for broadband!

  • That 3.5 million is only 1.4% of US internet users (78.1% of 330million). So not super surprising. I can’t imagine still using dial-up though. I remember back in the days of Napster getting a full KB/sec download speed was a huge deal. After being spoiled for years of streaming video and not waiting more than a second or two for a webpage to load it would be like a nightmare to go back to dial-up.

  • I’m surprised theres more than 3.5 people that use it. I remember it being awful and hearing that noise that AOL used to make when you dialed in. It makes sense that some people just didn’t ever upgrade because of lack of use, but I was most surprised to hear that it was still offered. I thought we’d completely moved on.

  • Ok, it would absolutely impossible for me to not have broadband, a laptop, and most days I can’t imagine not having my iPhone anymore. Just earlier today I was thinking, why do I even bother carrying a backpack? Most days I’m not taking notes in class. Everything I do in terms of school work is online. I only do it out of habit I guess, but imagine, I don’t need to carry a backpack anymore, thats how plugged in I am.

    Imagine you are some dude that lives in Idaho or I dont know, outside the suburbs of Little Rock or something. You work at the local Sears as a technician. You’re 58 years old, a little overweight and have bad gums. Your wife is a hairdresser and your hobbies include eating Hungry Man TV Dinners together while your wife enjoys a Hot Pocket and a MTN DEW and you guys watch Dancing with the Stars and Criminal Minds. Then you drink a few tubes of Anheisur Buesch Budweiser Light Beer and smoke a KOOL Menthol 100. On weekends you go hunting with your buddies and go downtown to APPLEBEES to have a chicken dinner with cheese melted all over it.

    Does someone like this need anything other than dial up? No. He probably still watches porn on betamax and canceled his NETFLIX subscription when his wife noticed they have a crumby laserdisc collection.
    This is most of America.

  • I am surprised that so many people still use dial up connection. I guess, bad economy is being one of the reason why more people are moving towards dial-up. I don’t about you, but I wish didn’t have to pay as much for my internet service. I definitely do not want to go back to using the dial-up connection; I can’t stand that modem’s noise. However, I hope that broadband service go down eventually.

  • Many people don’t have landlines for home phone service anymore…myself included. I honestly didn’t even think this service existed anymore. It is kind of mind-boggling that 3.5 million people still use it. I understand the necessity of cost effectivness, but my phone is 10x faster than dial-up…many bad memories of dial-up.

  • This number doesn’t surprise me. I know my neighborhood just got cable internet access a little over 2 years ago. Before then, my family used dial up when at home and we just had to deal with it. I know it definitely made me more productive because I couldn’t browse the internet, I had to get what I needed off of it, and that was it. As soon as cable internet became an option, pretty much every single neighbor, along with my family, upgraded and we wouldn’t go back to dial up every again!

  • To be honest, i use to use dial up before but it terrible it take me 1 hour something to download a MP3 song but for a video is will be forever, So it i have to move back to dial up i cannot take it. However, i did surprise with the number that people who still using dial up out there because there are still many people do not thing it not worth it.

  • I am very surprised with the amount of subscribers that are still using dial up. I can not imagine still using dial up. Dial up was so annoying and I hated the noise that it made. Also, I hated the fact that you could not use your telephone while using the internet. I could never go back to dial up, I would die! Lol Thank God for high speed and wireless internet!

  • The number does not surprise me because many families are unable to afford services from companies such as xfinity and verizon. Although, I would never be able to go back to dial-up. After experience high speed internet, downgrading would be impossible. I am just not patient enough for dial up and I hate that annoying beeping noise that you hear when trying to connect.

  • This is so pathetic. It is unfortunate that people have to use dial-up. I understand that it’s extremely cheap and that it’s only like $7 a month, but I think it is much more of a timesaver if you just get Cable for $40 a month. The amount of time you save is extroardinary.

  • Its hard for me to believe that AOL still has this many subscribers! On the rare occasion that I see someone with an AOL email address, I immediately think that they are behind the times. To me, AOL has been outdated for years. But I understand that it is a cheap option to stay connected to the world and not everyone is as fortunate as we who think down on AOL are.