Four out of five Canadian households have internet access

Four out of five Canadian households (79%) had access to the Internet in 2010 according to a StatsCan survey of about 30,000 households.

Among the one-fifth (21%) of households without home Internet access last year, over one-half (56%) reported they had no need for or interest in it. Only about 4% of respondents said they did not have internet service because of the cost of service or equipment.

Other findings of the report include:

• Bigger Households were more likely to access the internet – 93% of households with three or more people, as well as those with at least one member under the age of 18, had home Internet access. By contrast, 58% of one-person households had home Internet access.

• Internet access was higher in cities than rural areas. About 81% of households located in census metropolitan areas (CMA) and 76% of households located in census agglomerations (CA) had home Internet access, compared with 71% of households outside of these areas.
• A CMA and CA consist of one or more neighbouring municipalities situated around a major urban core. A CMA must have a total population of at least 100,000, of which 50,000 or more live in the urban core. A CA must have an urban core population of at least 10,000.

• Provincial Rates of access were highest in British Columbia (84%) and Alberta (83%), followed by Ontario, where the rate was 81%. Prince Edward Island and Manitoba were the lowest at 73%.

• Home Internet access was higher among higher income households – the vast majority (97%) of households in the top income quartile, those with incomes of $87,000 or more, had home Internet access. This compares with a rate of 54% of households in the lowest quartile, those with incomes of $30,000 or less.

• Most Connected users use a computer to access the net – Among connected households, most used a desktop computer (71%) or a laptop computer (64%). Over one-third (35%) used a wireless handheld device to access the Internet from home. A majority (54%) of connected households used more than one type of device to go online in 2010.

• Dial-up is virtually gone – based on the type of Internet connection and its self-reported speed, about 96% of households with home Internet access reported a high-speed connection.

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