Half of Israelis on High-Speed Internet

The majority of Israeli homes now have Internet access, with 57 percent on line, according to a new survey by the Smith Research and Consulting Institute for Tel Aviv University's Center for Internet Research. A year ago, the rate was only 46%.

The representative sample of 500 adults (margin of error 4.5 percent) found that surfing for information is the most popular activity among Israeli Web users (44% said this was their primary activity), while sending and receiving e-mail are in second place (28% as a primary activity), and surfing consumer sites is third (8% as a primary activity). The use of the Internet for downloading programs and games and participating in chat groups or ICQ immediate messaging was found to be only 4% each.

Of the 57% who use Internet from home, 50% have a high-speed line (ADSL or cable), and only 7% use a regular phone line to reach their browser and e-mail server.