Brits spend 11 hours per week online

The average Brit spends 11 hours per week online, research has found - an hour more than the normal European and an hour less than the typical French person.

According to a survey of 7,000 Europeans carried out by the European Interactive Advertising Association, the amount of time the average web user spends online is now 10 hours - an increase of 17 per cent on last year - and he goes online around five days of any given week.

Those with fat pipes, however, are seemingly more addicted to the web than their dial-up cousins.

Thirty-one per cent of Europe's broadband users spend more than 16 hours per week on the internet, compared to 24 per cent of internet users overall.

Increased broadband usage is also encouraging the average surfer to do more complex activities online. The survey found that 10 per cent of those surveyed had made a VoIP call and nearly a third download music over the internet.

However, a recent report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found that email and search are still the most popular tasks carried out online.