Wireless Internet in UK

Wireless Internet (also known as Wi-Fi) grants access to the World Wide Web or Internet e-mail via wireless networks.

A person with a wireless enabled device such as a computer, cell phone or PDA can connect to the Internet when in proximity of an access point. The region covered by one or several access points is called a hotspot. Hotspots can range from a single room to many square miles of overlapping hotspots.

More than a third (35%) of the online population in the UK now has access to a wireless connection, reveals the survey of more than 2,000 UK Internet users, carried out for AOL by human behaviour research company Populus.

Half of all those surveyed chose the garden as their preferred location to surf the Internet, ahead of the bed or the beach. Those aged 18-24 were less keen to venture outdoors though, with 41% of this age group choosing their bedroom as their surfing sanctuary.

The majority (84%) of those who are already wireless have access in the home, with 12% using it at the office and the remainder using Internet hotspots. Three quarters of wireless users have started using it in the last year and over half (39%) have done so within the last six months, showing rapid growth in uptake recently.

Most of the people surveyed (63%) simply felt that the freedom of wireless was the greatest benefit, though nearly one in four (23%) felt it was tidier.

Nearly one in six say they have stolen someone else's wireless bandwidth, with men (22%) far more likely to do it than women (6%) and it being more prevalent in London and the South East than elsewhere in the UK. Four out of five people believe that bandwidth thieves should be punished, with two thirds preferring a fine as punishment over a Net ban or prison sentence.

(Data from an article written on 29 August 2006)