Broadband has come a long way since it first appeared in the UK ten years ago.

Point Topic has released a report highlighting the huge strides taken since 256Kb per second was the top speed anybody could hope for.

The research firm describes how broadband internet is now an accepted part of modern day life coming from its beginnings as a niche product.

Tim Johnson, chief analyst at Point Topic, commented: "The vision of the people who launched broadband has been pretty well fulfilled. In just ten years high-speed internet has gone from novelty to necessity for millions of families.

And thinking back to the days of snail-paced dial-up connections: "Downloading a single music track would take 10 minutes and although you could just about stream a movie or watch TV on-line it wasn't much fun."

Point Topic held up South Korea as an example of a country which has embraced broadband to an even greater extent than the UK – over 95 per cent of the population has access to the service.