With over 13 million UK households now switched onto broadband, and more than four million new internet subscriptions in the last two years alone, it will come as no surprise that Britons are becoming addicted to the net.
According to a new study by independent switching service uSwitch.com, the average UK internet user spends 15 hours online each week. Annually, this amounts to 34 straight days – more than one calendar month! Just to put this figure further into perspective, it is more time than the average person spends eating and drinking, bathing and grooming, or going out.
The research also revealed that about 780,000 of the most connected adults now spend more time networking online, through social media websites such as MySpace and Facebook than they do socialising in real life. In fact, the study of 10,500 broadband users indicates that social networking has now moved ahead of online shopping, banking and media downloading/streaming to become the most popular online activity after browsing the web and emailing. People now spend an average of six days a year 'virtual networking'.
"It's very exciting to see Britain taking broadband by the scruff of the neck and making full use of the online world in today's demanding 24/7 environment," said Steve Weller, head of communications services at uSwitch.com. "The uptake of broadband in the past few years has been nothing short of explosive and this will certainly continue, especially with the constant innovation in the market."
He also made mention of the rapid rise of social networking websites over the last two years, which have made a deep and lasting impact on the way that people use the Internet to communicate with one another. Since its inception, MySpace has reached over 100 million users, while the second most visited site of its kind, Facebook, now has over 30 million members.
"We are not surprised to find that the average internet user is spending nearly a week a year socialising online. Consumers from all walks of life are embracing the trend - while three quarters of those visiting social networking sites are aged 18 to 29 years, a third of the over 50's are also taking part in the online phenomenon."
VoIP 999 access to become mandatory
With so many British consumers spending a record amount of their time online, telecoms regulator Ofcom has ruled that all Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services which allow users to have voice conversations over the internet must provide access to the 999 emergency call facility.
It is estimated that as many as 15 per cent of broadband households use VoIP services. While most of these 2.4 million customers use VoIP as a supplement to a landline, an increasing number are implementing it as their primary means of telephone communication.
Some VoIP providers – such as BT and Vonage – already allow users to make 999 calls. In March, Ofcom made it necessary for all providers to make it clear whether or not their service included access to emergency calls.
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