Internet access is no longer a luxury that few can afford, with many relying on it to get work done especially in the era of working from home. Borrowing your neighbor’s WiFi might seem unethical, but there are some countries that see surprisingly high levels of such activities which makes sense if they lack suitable internet connections. Statista recently put out some data that revealed which countries see the highest rates of WiFi borrowing from their neighbors.
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that citizens of the Netherlands are far more likely to use their neighbor’s wireless internet connection. Around 16% of Dutch respondents said that they use their neighbor’s WiFi regularly which is more than twice the percentage that was seen in other countries. Austria and Germany are tied for second place on this list, with 7% of respondents in both countries saying that they use neighboring houses WiFi connections to access the internet.
Interestingly, the Netherlands also has the lowest rate of people who had access to high speed broadband internet with only 40% saying that they had it. That explains the high rate of WiFi stealing because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making it difficult for them to get work done. In spite of the fact that this is the case, the US also has a comparable rate of broadband adoption with just 43%, and its WiFi stealing percentages were quite low at just 3%.
The countries with the lowest rate of borrowing neighbor’s WiFi were the UK and China, both of which had just 2% of respondents saying that they did this. WiFi borrowing is clearly more prevalent in Europe, with French respondents also saying that they borrowed WiFi 6% of the time. 5% of Spanish respondents also said the same, so there is clearly a trend in Europe regarding using neighborhood WiFi connections. There is no real harm done in this trend, but it is an interesting one to note nonetheless.
Read next: Robocalls Targeting Consumers Cross 24 Billion in H1 2022
With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that citizens of the Netherlands are far more likely to use their neighbor’s wireless internet connection. Around 16% of Dutch respondents said that they use their neighbor’s WiFi regularly which is more than twice the percentage that was seen in other countries. Austria and Germany are tied for second place on this list, with 7% of respondents in both countries saying that they use neighboring houses WiFi connections to access the internet.
Interestingly, the Netherlands also has the lowest rate of people who had access to high speed broadband internet with only 40% saying that they had it. That explains the high rate of WiFi stealing because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making it difficult for them to get work done. In spite of the fact that this is the case, the US also has a comparable rate of broadband adoption with just 43%, and its WiFi stealing percentages were quite low at just 3%.
The countries with the lowest rate of borrowing neighbor’s WiFi were the UK and China, both of which had just 2% of respondents saying that they did this. WiFi borrowing is clearly more prevalent in Europe, with French respondents also saying that they borrowed WiFi 6% of the time. 5% of Spanish respondents also said the same, so there is clearly a trend in Europe regarding using neighborhood WiFi connections. There is no real harm done in this trend, but it is an interesting one to note nonetheless.
Read next: Robocalls Targeting Consumers Cross 24 Billion in H1 2022
