British take a liking to broadband

The UK public has taken broadband to its heart, with the number of subscriptions almost doubling in the past year.

The boom is largely fuelled by people who find dial-up too slow, according to the latest figures from the ONS (Office of National Statistics).

While the number of overall subscriptions to the net is up by 8.8 per cent over the last year, the number of dial-up subscriptions is only just above what it was in January 2001.

Permanent subscriptions rose by 97.7 per cent and now make up 25.7 per cent of the total, while dial-up dropped by 5.6 per cent.

The way people pay for their net connections is also changing. Those using free access or billing have dropped from 43 per cent of the total to only 38 per cent. There has been a similar five per cent fall in those on unmetered plans, to 31 per cent of the total, and the number of people on mixed schemes has fallen from seven per cent to five.

The ONS compiles its monthly internet connectivity statistics with information from a panel of ISPs. Last month it reported that almost half of UK households, 12.1 million or 49 per cent, could access the internet from home.