Lately, and especially in Belgium, internet has made an enormous progress. We get more reliable figures when we take a look at the number of internet connections. The appearance of free internet connections caused a new boom in the number of connections. ISPA counted over 735.000 connections in November 1999. This number should however be taken not too seriously.
Some surfers use more than one free connection or try out several connections.
Moreover, a number of users combine a normal pay connection with one or more free connections. Two thirds of them have a university or similar degree. They use internet more at the office than at home. The internet is used by most surfers to collect news, to send e-mails and also for leisure time activities and subjects of personal interest.