Finally, internet users are leaving dialup in the dust

Kiwis are ditching dial-up internet connections for broadband internet, according to a study.

The World Internet Project survey also reveals Asian New Zealanders have the highest level of internet usage in New Zealand.

Broadband usage leapt to 82 per cent by September from 67 per cent in 2007, as the number of Kiwis on slower dial-up connections dropped to 16 per cent from 31 per cent.

How New Zealand compares with the 27 other countries surveyed will not be known until the end of the year at the earliest, but 2009 figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development put the number of broadband accounts in New Zealand at 22.8 per 100 people – about average.

The growth in the number of broadband subscriptions in New Zealand in the first half of last year was the sixth-fastest in the 30-member OECD.

The survey found 97 per cent of Asian New Zealanders use the internet, while usage for Pacific Island, Maori and Pakeha was about 80 per cent.

Nigel Smith, World Internet Project co-ordinator at Auckland University of Technology, said social networking sites were no longer the preserve of teenagers, with the survey results showing 48 per cent of New Zealanders use the sites, including people in their seventies, he said.

Sixty per cent were satisfied with the speed of their internet connection. Telecommunications Users Association chief executive Ernie Newman said that was a probably partly due to local loop unbundling – which let other internet providers install their equipment in Telecom's exchanges.

CONNECTED KIWIS

Broadband usage is at 82 per cent, up from 67 per cent in 2007. 16 per cent of people are on dial-up, down from 31 per cent in 2007. 18 per cent of people access the web via their mobile phones, up from 7 per cent in 2007. 97 per cent of Asian Kiwis use the internet, compared with about 80 per cent for each of the Maori, Pakeha and Pacific Island groups. One fifth of users are online at home for at least 20 hours a week, but three-fifths spend less than 10 hours each week online at home.

- © Fairfax NZ News