Remember that screeching sound of a dial-up modem connecting to the internet? In 2013, that sound was still music to AOL's ears—specifically, to the tune of over $500 million annually. While the rest of the world was streaming Netflix and updating Facebook in seconds, 2.5 million Americans were still using AOL's dial-up service, paying around $20 per month for internet speeds that would make a modern smartphone weep.

This wasn't just pocket change for AOL. Their subscription revenue hit $650 million in 2013, representing a massive chunk of the company's overall income. Even more surprising? This dial-up business was incredibly profitable, with minimal infrastructure costs since the network was already built decades earlier.

The Captive Audience

Who were these dial-up loyalists? Many were elderly users who'd been with AOL since the 1990s and saw no reason to change. Some lived in rural areas where broadband simply wasn't available. Others didn't even realize they were paying for dial-up—they thought they were paying for their @aol.com email address, not understanding that email could be free.

AOL wasn't exactly rushing to educate them, either. The company knew it had a golden goose that required almost no feeding.

A Slow Decline, A Steady Cash Cow

The subscriber base was shrinking, but slowly. AOL lost only about 300,000 subscribers between 2012 and 2013—a gentle decline that still left millions on the hook. By the time Verizon acquired AOL in 2015, there were still 2.2 million dial-up subscribers generating over $600 million annually.

Here's the beautiful irony: while AOL desperately tried to rebrand itself as a modern media and advertising company, its actual profits came from people connecting to the internet like it was still 1998. The company's fancy acquisitions of HuffPost and TechCrunch were subsidized by grandparents waiting three minutes for Yahoo to load.

The Legacy Lives On

Even today, AOL still has dial-up subscribers. The number has dwindled to around 1.5 million, but they're still out there, still hearing that familiar eeee-awwww-ggggrrrr-kshhhhh every time they check their email. And someone, somewhere, is still making money from it.

It's a reminder that in tech, the bleeding edge and the trailing edge can coexist for decades. While Silicon Valley chases the next big thing, sometimes the real money is in the last big thing—maintained just well enough to keep the checks coming.

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