Just a decade ago the average time spent online per day by any one person was 46 minutes, now it’s a staggering 4 hours (or half of the average working day!). Facebook has 900 million members (300 times bigger than Friendster was in 2002), the average time to download a song has decreased from 13 minutes to 18 seconds, and the devices we used primarily for texting and phone calls have evolved into mini computers giving us internet access almost anywhere.
However, for many people developments in speed and accessibility are still hanging about in 2002. You may think it only applies to less fortunate areas of the world too, but what if I told you it was happening on your own doorstep?
The gap between cities and rural areas continues to grow when it comes to online access. Whilst built up areas striving in population and business are receiving fibre optic broadband and 4G networks, some areas of the countryside are struggling to hit anything faster than the 56k modem speeds we consider ancient.