A recent YouGov poll has shown that 59 per cent of people with broadband have set up a wireless network at home.

The survey of over 2,000 UK consumers found that 87 per cent of those who had set up a wireless network had connected a PC or laptop, 28 per cent were using it to control printers and one in five were using a games console online.

However, while the survey found that more people would like to use wireless systems in the house, over a third of those questioned did not have the skills to set them up.

"The research shows that wireless networking is now a mass market technology, and not only for the tech savvy consumer," said Chris Dobrec, director of strategy and business development at Linksys.

"The consumer is by no means a computer network administrator; he or she is purely interested in the application of the network for tasks like accessing the internet wirelessly or printing wirelessly."

The overall level of technology awareness among broadband users appears high. Of those surveyed 69 per cent had a digital music player, over half had a games console and 15 per cent had a digital picture frame.

Curiously two per cent of homes had broadband but no PC at home, indicating that some people are buying broadband just for online gaming.