London's economic frothiness has won it the title of Wi-Fi capital of the world, in news which is sure to terrify Notting Hill's designer tinfoil hat Earth mother brigade.

For the first time, London has overtaken New York for hotspot numbers, according to RSA's annual survey. The UK capital clocked up 7,130 Wi-Fi networks in 2007, compared to 2,747 last year.

As well as seeing its crown as global financial hub float away across the Atlantic last year, the Big Apple has to contend with just 6,371 brain-frying access points.

There's been a slight improvement in the proportion of business networks which are unsecured on both sides of the pond; it's dropped to about 18 per cent from 23 per cent.

Happily for internet-loving francophobes the world over, Paris sauntered in with a lacadaisical 825 hotspots (though to be fair it is much smaller, and the tinfoil beret is yet to come into vogue across the channel). ®

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