British Columbia has the country's highest percentage of households with home Internet access, according to Statistics Canada.
The Canadian Internet Use Survey, published November 26, showed that 86.5% of households in B.C. had access to the Internet in their homes when the poll was conducted in 2012. This is four percentage points higher than the national average of 82.5%.
Alberta is in second place with 85.7%.
The provinces with above-average usage rates were:
- British Columbia (86.5%);
- Alberta (85.7%);
- Ontario (84.1%); and
- Saskatchewan (82.6%).
Across the country, households in large cities had higher rates of usage than those in small towns, with 85% and 75%, respectively.
The number of Canadians going online using wireless handheld devices from home increased from 35% in 2010 to 59% in 2012. The most popular type of hardware used to access the Internet was a laptop (74%), followed by a desktop computer (62%). Games consoles were used by 27% of respondents
The survey found that 97% of Canadians with home access to the Internet in 2012 had a high-speed connection.
Households with incomes over $94,000 had a 98% home Internet access rate, compared with 58% in homes with incomes below $30,000.
B.C. also had the country's highest usage rate when the survey was conducted in 2010, with 84.4%. This was more than five percentage points above the national average of 78.9%. Once again, Alberta was in second place, with 83.4%.
