It's not only Internet speeds that are hotting up. Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show the number of broadband connections capable of more 1.5Mbps more than doubled in the 15 months to December 2007 to 2.51 million services.

Back in September 2006, there were just 1.13 million Australian broadband services capable of speeds of more than 1.5Mbps.

The ABS has also started reporting on broadband connections capable of more than 8Mbps: 1.2 million by the end of the year capable of speeds of between 8Mbps and 24Mbps. The number of dial-up connections fell from 2.75 million subscribers in September 2006 to about 1.9 million in December. The number of ISPs has fallen 38 percent from 689 to 421.