If you’re a real estate agent on the phone with a client or prospect and you hear a rapid clicking noise in the background of your conversation, don’t be surprised. It’s possible the other party is simultaneously banging away at a keyboard while you talk, using the Internet to check what you say.

An annual Internet usage study released Nov. 29, 2006, by the Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California reports that broadband (high-speed) Internet connections in many homes have changed the way consumers use their computers.

With the ability to get online quickly, users now access the Web 30,40, and 50 times a day for 2 to 3 minutes at a time, says center director Jeffrey Cole. They’re verifying what they’ve heard or seen, getting more information, chatting with friends or co-workers, or buying a limited-time bargain. Compare that to six years earlier, when most people were on dial-up accounts over regular telephone lines; they accessed the Internet far less often but for far longer, 20 to 30 minutes at a time.

Seventy-eight (78) percent of Americans now use the Internet regularly, up from 67 percent in 2000, according to the study. And a majority of Americans, 68 percent, have Internet access at home, up from 47 percent in 2000.

Most homeowners get online faster than ever before. Half of the public reaches the Web with broadband connections, the study reports -- 26 percent over cable, and 24 percent over DSL (digital subscriber line) service. Thirty-seven (37) percent of home Internet users still have slower dial-up.

On average, according to the study, users now spend 14 hours a week online. That’s risen 48 percent, from 9.4 hours weekly, since 2000.

The study has been conducted most years since 2000. This year’s survey was conducted in both English and Spanish between February and April 2006, and included follow-up interviews with people surveyed in earlier years. The study has a margin of sampling error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.