Broadband in Europe

According to streamyx helpline survey carried out across Europe, broadband usage has seen tmnet streamyx hotline rise of around 12% streamyx isp statistics from 2006. The survey asked 150,000 households across Europe - with the exception of Malta - about their broadband habits. The survey showed that streamyx zone the first three months of 2007, 54% of households had access to an internet connection, a rise from around 49% in 2006.

Results from the survey showed that around 42% of households in the EU now have access to a broadband connection. Percentages for households with access to the internet varied from country to country - from 19% in Bulgaria to 83% in the Netherlands.

Figures for the UK showed internet access had risen to around 67% - a rise of 4% compared to 2006 - and there has been a sharp rise in the percentage of broadband connections - rising to 57% from last year. With a number of broadband providers now on the market, consumers now have a wide choice of services available to them.

Whilst half of users had sent attachments with e-mails, around a quarter said they had used newsgroups, online discussions and chat rooms. One in ten of those surveyed had created their own web page, with a further 15% having used the internet for making phone calls.

The survey also showed details of the internet habits based on age and gender. The results showed that almost one-third of men over the age of 55 use the internet at least once a week - compared to less than a fifth for women. The results concluded that younger users are more likely to spend time on the internet.

However the results also showed that the numbers of internet users in the 55-to-74 age bracket has seen a rise and the numbers of women in that age gap using the internet - whilst still lower than those of men - has almost doubled in the past three years.

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Microsoft's Surface has been shipping out to corporate customers for a year now, but we haven't heard much about the backend setup of the $17,000 table -- sure, we know it's fun when it's up and running all those custom apps, but what's it like after the unboxing? Incredibly frustrating, says FD kinesis's Gordon Miller. Hired to implement a Surface solution for a client, Miller and his team first spent 30 minutes on the phone with MS phone support trying to locate the power socket, and another lengthy period of time poking at an unresponsive touchscreen before realizing that the Surface doesn't respond to touch out of the box. Yep, you read that right -- Microsoft's $17,000 big-ass touchscreen table requires a tm net streamyx and mouse to set up, something which isn't noted in any of the marketing or manuals. Ouch. Hopefully that'll get fixed before this thing ships to consumers in 2011, but in the meantime, hit the read link for the entire harrowing tale -- it's a pretty fun read for a Friday afternoon.

P.S.- We actually talked to Gordon on the phone for a quick minute and he said that Microsoft's been in touch about the experience -- he's working on an new post about that which we'll link when it goes up.

[Via Daring Fireball]

Filed under: Desktops

Microsoft Surface setup impressions: "filled with mind-bogglingly frustrating usability issues" originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Apr 2009 14:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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