Honolulu residents like life in the fast lane when it comes to the Internet, according to a new study.

Honolulu is tied with the Seattle/Tacoma metropolitan area for having the sixth-highest percentage of households in the nation with high-speed Internet connections, the report by Scarborough Research shows.

The analysis shows 59 percent of households here had a so-called broadband connection last year as the number of homes with speedy Internet access continued to climb here and nationwide.

The findings are consistent with additional research from Scarborough and others showing Honolulu adults spend more time on the Internet each week compared to the national average, and that Honolulu is one of the top markets in the U.S. when it comes to the number of people who have read or contributed to a blog in the past month.

Scarborough, a consumer research company owned by the Nielsen Co. and Arbitron Inc., found the number of households across the country with a cable or DSL modem was at 49 percent last year. The San Francisco Bay area, home to Silicon Valley, had the highest penetration at 62 percent and was followed by Boston, San Diego and the Hartford/New Haven, Conn., area.

"There is obviously an increasing need for more high-speed Internet connectivity as it enables fast and efficient delivery of rich media content," Scarborough Research said in a press statement.

"Consumers clearly are demanding more speed in order to upload, download, post and interact with content."

The research found that nationally, broadband subscribers are more likely than other Internet users to download and watch television programs, or do the same with audio clips during the past month. They also visit newspaper Web sites more often and are more likely to look for sports content on the Internet.

The study compared with prior ones by Scarborough Research, which examined broadband usage as a percentage of Honolulu Internet users. Those surveys show higher penetration of broadband compared to the larger group of all households.

Internet experts have said there are a number of reasons for the higher Web usage here, including Hawai'i's geographic isolation and Honolulu's Internet infrastructure. O'ahu was one of the first markets where Time Warner installed its Road Runner service and has one of the highest penetrations for high-speed Internet of any market served by the cable company.

Scarborough said the lowest markets for broadband usage tended to be in the South and Southwest regions, such as Roanoke/Lynchburg, Va., at 29 percent.