46% of wireless users also like to check news websites daily, compared with 38% of wired broadband users, and 31% of all Internet users. It seems hardly surprising considering the more natural inclination to check when access is so readily available from a wirelessly connected laptop computer. As such users with WiFi at home reported using their laptops all over the house.

Wireless still isn’t the most popular way to actually access the Internet – wired connections are still the most popular way to get connected. But with wireless speeds getting faster, and competition in the wireless space continues heating up, which will put more pressure on prices, the popularity of wireless Internet access can only inevitably grow and grow and grow until it is even more ubiquitous than mobile voice communications are today.

The report says that there are “differences between wireless and home broadband users [which are] statistically significant and notable because most wireless users (80%) have broadband connections at home. The findings suggest that the “relentless connectivity” afforded by wireless access represents a different quality in online behavior.”

People using wireless the most are aged between 18 and 49 years, with 56% of those men, which compares with an age group of 30 to 64 for ‘general Internet users’ where the male population is 46%.

Also of note is that 40% of laptop users are under 30, 40% can connected to the Internet with their cell phones, and 13% have a PDA with some form of wireless capability.

The survey, which has an error rate of plus/minus 4%, shows the popularity of wireless is growing at a rapid pace, and is being met by faster WiFi standards, faster 3G networks using HSDPA, and holds promise for upcoming WiMAX networks that cover huge areas with high speed broadband.

We can only expect these figures to increase dramatically in the next report. It’s a small and increasingly wireless world after all!
{moscomment}