AOL Pulls the Plug on Dial-Up Internet: What You Need to Know

People living in sparsely populated areas may not have many, if any, choices when it comes to accessing fast internet; the broadband infrastructure never reached them. Other folks are living on fixed incomes and strapped budgets.

Four alternatives to AOL dial-up

If you’ve been an AOL dial-up customer all along, you have a few options.

1. Find another dial-up service. A few dial-up providers are still around, with Microsoft the best known of the bunch. MSN Dial-Up Internet Access costs $21.95 per month or $179.95 per year, which Microsoft says includes security software, phishing filter technology, a pop-up guard and multiple email accounts. You can cancel within 30 days.

NetZero is a provider with a free dial-up plan. However, you’re limited to 10 hours per month per household, assuming you have a single computer and phone line. Pay options start at $29.95 per month.

Juno has had its own free 10-hour per month dial-up plan, but a message at the company website indicates that the offer is no longer available. A DSL (digital subscriber line) broadband plan at Juno starts at $26.95.

DSL uses regular copper phone lines as well, but it doesn't tie up the line like dial-up and is faster, though not as zippy as other flavors of broadband.

Another niche provider, Dialup 4 Less, offers a 25-hour plan for $9.95 per month and an unlimited plan starting at $19.95.

Make sure whichever dial-up outfit you consider has toll-free and/or local phone numbers that you can dial when connecting to the internet, lest you possibly incur long-distance charges. And remember that when you’re on a dial-up line, another person in the house cannot be on the same phone line at the same time.

2. Switch to broadband. Obviously, it comes down to cost and availability. Since you may not have had any other choice, you’ve been on dial-up all these years. Now, you’ll almost certainly pay a lot more for broadband. But if you can afford it, check out any DSL, cable or satellite offerings in your region. To possibly relieve the financial burden, it doesn’t hurt to ask providers if they have discounts for older adults. You’ll certainly appreciate that broadband is light-years faster, plus you’re no longer tying up the phone.

3. Seek government subsidies. The truth is, there aren’t many. Congress let the Affordable Connectivity Program lapse last year. A government program supported by AARP, the ACP provided a $30 monthly subsidy to low-income households — those that earn up to 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines — to cover all or most of the cost of high-speed internet service. The subsidy climbed to $75 per household on tribal lands. It had been used by more than 2 in 5 households headed by a person over 50.

In the absence of the ACP, some consumers will be able to turn to the decades-old federal Lifeline program. It provides a $9.25 monthly phone or internet discount for households that earn 135 percent or less of the federal poverty guidelines. You may also qualify under certain other federal assistance programs.

4. Head to the library. It may not be ideal or convenient. But you may be able to connect to free Wi-Fi at your local library, maybe by using one of their computers.

But the Senate rescinded funding for a Federal Communications Commission E-Rate program that had allowed people who couldn’t afford internet at home to check out Wi-Fi hot spot devices from the library. The lending program was expanded last year under the Biden administration. Such hot spots use cellular connectivity to create portable connections to the internet. Again, it couldn't hurt to ask; it’s possible your library still has one you can borrow.