Several weeks ago a fellow on Facebook was seeking input on what local high-speed Internet ISP services were available, he was still using telephone dial-up. Almost instantly my eyes bugged out and my ears rang with the memories of 56K squealing as they strained to make a connection to AOL (America Online) or some other provider.

I finally decided to check it out and, yes Virginia, there still is such a thing as dial-up. If you still have a telephone wire coming into your home and one of those old 56k modems you can access the Internet the way we all miraculously did back in the stone age.

What you still need, however, is an Internet access portal and a quick Google revealed that, sure enough, AOL was still in business and offering AOL dial-up access. It will cost you around $20 a month and in America, there are still around 2.16 million households using it. That means that AOL raking in around $52 million a month from their technological dinosaur.

But, if you live in a part of this nation where the sun doesn’t shine or your social media and streaming needs are non-existent, 56k may be all you really need. It’s still fast enough to respond to your “you’ve got mail” announcements.