The number of Irish households with internet access at home continues to grow according to a new survey that shows fixed broadband remains the most popular way to get online.
Data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) indicates 89 per cent of households are now online, up two percentage points on 2016.
In addition, 81 per cent of internet users went online in the three months prior to the survey being undertaken. Not surprisingly, internet usage was most popular with younger adults.
Fixed broadband remains the most common type of internet access at home with 84 per cent of households using it to grow online, versus 49 per cent using mobile broadband. However, mobile phones or smartphones were used to access the internet away from home or work by 87 per cent of individuals in 2017.
The most common activity carried out by internet users at home was finding information on goods and services. This was followed by email, social networking and internet banking.
Clothes and/or sports goods were the most popular items sought online by internet users with the next most common types of internet purchases being holiday accommodation and event tickets.
Seven out of ten internet users said went online every day. Daily usage of the internet has increased nine percentage points since 2013.
The growing popularity of online storage solutions such as Google Drive and Dropbox means Irish internet users are increasingly choosing to store files via the cloud. The survey shows 52 per cent of all users now use online storage space, up from 45 per cent a year ago.
