Wi-Fi usage "doubled in last year"

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 2 Dec 2008 at 16:46

BT is touting figures showing Wi-Fi usage has doubled since last year, suggesting users racked up more than a million minutes a day during September.

According to the telecoms company, its Wi-Fi network recorded its first ever ten million minute week in September, with figures for the entire month averaging out at around eight million minutes use per week.

The figures have undoubtedly been spurred by the explosion in Wi-Fi hotspots, with 120,000 extra springing up since October 2007, courtesy of BT's FON network which allows customers to share their Wi-Fi connections with others.

BT Openzone also manages 3,000 hotspots. The last year has also seen huge growth in Wi-Fi acces on smartphones, led by devices such as the iPhone.

However, it hasn't all been good news for the incumbent telco. In September, BT customers lost access to 6,500 Wi-Fi hotspots across the UK after the company split with wireless provider The Cloud.