The Net attracted 700,000 new UK-based home users between January and February 2001, according to the latest figures from Jupiter MMXI.

The massive rise was attributed to punters who bought a new PC for Christmas and those who thought they'd save a few bob waiting for the January sales.

The survey was first conducted in October 1999 when boffins reported that there were 7.8 million home Net users in Britain. In the 16 months since the survey kicked off home Net usage in the UK has risen by 5.7 million users.

Kids (2-14 year olds) are the largest group of new adopters, boosting their presence from 10.7 per cent of the UK home Net population in October 2000 to 15.2 per cent in February 2001.

The British online population spends an average of six hours forty-eight minutes online every month. Men (55+) spend an extra half an hour a month online than any other age group.

Some three million poeple in the UK access the Web from work. ®