High-speed Internet hits critical mass

The broadband revolution is happening -- it's official -- with more than 75 percent of ZDNet UK's sister site silicon.com's readers enjoying the benefits of the high-speed Internet, either at work or at home.

And speed would appear to be of the essence, with faster Web surfing cited as the most common reason for having a broadband connection.

A survey of more than 2,500 readers conducted from 4 August to 8 August 2003 has thrown the spotlight on the extent to which we're really moving towards Broadband Britain. Less than a quarter of those polled (23.9 per cent) told us they don't have broadband at all.

Meanwhile, 54.4 percent say they have it at home, with 52.7 percent saying they have it at work -- though this latter figure could be clouded by the sharing of a fat, leased line not being considered broadband by some respondents.

However, of those that do make use of the technology, "faster Web surfing" is the killer app for at 50.7 percent of respondents.

Other reasons for getting domestic broadband included "downloading email faster/downloading larger attachments" -- cited by 21.6 percent of respondents, "video on demand/streaming" (nine percent), and "music download services" and "online gaming", both at 5.3 percent.

Only 1.5 percent of respondents cited "pornography" as the killer app for broadband.