Alternative to AOL

MSN

This early Microsoft portal competed with dial-up giants in the late '90s.

In the 1990s and early 2000s, AOL (America Online) was a dominant internet service provider, but Microsoft launched MSN (Microsoft Network) as a direct competitor. The clue plays on nostalgia for dial-up era services, where both AOL and MSN offered email, chat, and web access under one brand. It’s a straightforward reference—no wordplay—just naming a well-known rival to AOL during the early days of consumer internet. If you remember "You've Got Mail," MSN was the other big name in the same space.