A new, fact-packed survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows more users are logging on to the wireless Internet using mobile devices. About one-third (34 percent) of Internet users in the U.S. have used a wireless connection (either a Wi-Fi service of a mobile device) to surf the Web or check e-mail.

Pew also found that 20 percent of users surveyed had wireless networks at home, double the number recorded in January 2005. This also implies an increase in the number of users consuming media content via Wi-Fi networks. However, the device of choice appears to be the PC, indicating that the experience is centered around the PC even when the access is wireless.

However, the Pew report also had some good news for Internet access via mobile. One in four Internet users (25 percent) said they have a mobile device that can access the Internet, and 54 percent of those with this capability said they have actually used mobile devices to surf the Internet. About 13 percent of Internet users have a PDA, and 56 percent said they have used it to access the Internet or e-mail away from home or work.

Pew reckons around 13.5 percent of Internet users access the Internet via mobile devices. Put another way, some 35 million Americans now access mobile Internet content via a mobile phone or PDA. (The telephone survey of 798 Internet users was conducted from November 30 to December 30. It dovetails with Pew’s earlier survey of 1,623 U.S. adult Internet users in December 2006.) Download a copy of the report here.