British users call for regulation

Books and travel drew 13% of consumers, displacing computer hardware and software with 12%. The report estimates that 40% of British users have gone online in the past twelve months.

More than 50% of consumers online for more than two years have made a purchase compared to 25% of those wired for less than one year.

The typical British user spends five hours or less online per week, visiting 13 Web sites in that time. Women account for 43% of British users while 9% of over 55s are online. Only 4% of users expressed dissatisfaction with their ISP.

Over half of UK users regularly use email to keep in contact with friends and family, while 20% of experienced users citing it as their favourite means of communication.

The report estimates that there are more than ten million people online, but approximately 20 million people have no intention of doing so, citing irrelevance and cost as the most common major inhibitors.