9 AOL Dial-Up Internet Memories as the Service Says 'Goodbye' for Good

34 years ago, America Online changed just about everything. The day AOL arrived (how did the L in online get its own letter in the acronym?) was like the first day of a brand new Wild West. So much exploration ahead. While AOL isn't going anywhere, it is finally laying its dial-up service to rest, despite the 160,000 people who still use it. (For those that still use it, three companies still offer dial-up Internet service: Microsoft, Juno, and NetZero.)

Want to take a stroll down internet memory lane? Close your eyes and imagine the tone in your head. Here are nine early memories of dial-up Internet through AOL in the '90s. 

It was really only like 30 seconds, but the wait for dial-up to load and connect felt like an eternity. And remember the sound? The symphony of beeps and boops and static that meant you were off, like a rocket, to the Internet? Speaking of the sounds… 

Can’t you hear them now? The sounds of a door opening when somebody signed on, or closing when they signed off, or of course, “You’ve got mail” and “Goodbye.” 

Let’s also take a moment to appreciate voice actor Elwood Edwards, and the way he delivered a line so famous they named a Tom Hanks movie after it. And for his contribution to American culture and history, as well as the hundreds of billions of dollars the company has made with the help of his voice, AOL paid him… 

$200. Sometimes stories don’t have happy endings.

Look at that beautiful web design right there. The Cranberries had new music when this screenshot was taken. Lily, a Himalayan kitten, is only eight weeks old but has already learned how to use the Internet to post a personal ad. 51 buddies for this person, too. Not bad. One of the options is "Internet," which implies that you're not there yet. 

Every inch of this thing is a treat. 

Was there anything more thrilling than chatting with somebody online? Let me tell you, as a middle schooler using instant messages at this time, the answer was no. Getting somebody’s screen name was the ultimate collector’s item. And one of the most integral parts of the text message? Your away message. 

The perfect away message was an art; it was like a baseball cap or a sweatshirt. It was a way to let people know who you were. We’re talking song lyrics. We’re talking TV show quotes. We’re talking ultimate freedom of expression. 

Maybe sometimes you just needed to talk to anyone. This was usually a dangerous and unsettling thing to do, but chat rooms were available. There were some good people in those things. There were also a lot of not good people in those things. 

Remember that thing? 1,000+ hours free? The day that CD (and the floppy disk version before it) showed up was the day everything changed. Unless you were like my friend, whose mom bought the "You’ve Got Mail" soundtrack, and tricked him into thinking he finally got the Internet. Nope. Just a soundtrack. 

Before Google, there were keywords. This was AOL’s way of searching and guiding you through the vast, uncharted internet. 

The biggest problem with dial-up? It used a full phone line, which meant that if you only had one in your house, you couldn’t be on the telephone at the same time. Landlines themselves are relics these days, but the perils of sharing a phone line never ceased.