New Zealand's internet usage has been laid bare by a map that shows how people are consuming data on Chorus' broadband networks in different parts of the country.

Manukau City residents chewed through the most internet data on Chorus' networks in June, consuming more than three times more gigabytes (155Gb) than people in Kaikoura and the Coromandel (49Gb).

A national map of internet consumption compiled by Chorus appears to confirm stereotypes, with suburbanites ploughing through far more data than people in outdoorsy, picturesque towns.

LAWRENCE SMITH/FAIRFAX NZ Internet usage on Chorus networks has jumped 150 per cent in 18 months.

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The map is not necessary a good guide to where the country's couch potatos live, however.

A map showing average internet speeds confirms the strong link between speed and high data usage – suggesting that people generally use more data just because they can.

Dunedin is a standout with its average connection speed of 151 megabits-per-second (Mbps) because of Chorus "Gigatown" initiative under which Chorus is wholesaling gigabit-speed ultrafast broadband to inhabitants of the city at a discounted rate.

Waimate and Otorohanga districts had the slowest internet speeds with an average connection speed of 11Mbps.

A major proviso with the data is that while it counts both Chorus' copper and ultrafast broadband (UFB) networks it does not measure the data consumption of people on networks that aren't owned by Chorus.

These include Vodafone's cable networks in Wellington and Christchurch and the UFB networks in Christchurch, Whangarei and the central North Island, including Hamilton.

Heavy internet users in those cities are likely to prefer those networks over Chorus' copper. Chorus' figures suggest people on UFB consume twice as much data as those on copper broadband, for example.

The upshot is that Chorus' data could be expected to significantly underestimate both internet usage and average internet speeds in all of those towns.

The only way appears to be up for internet usage. Chorus said average internet use on its network jumped by 150 per cent in just 18 months, from just over 40Gb in December 2014 to 103Gb in June.

Head of insights Rosalie Nelson said that put New Zealand "among the most data hungry countries in the world", and that was in parts thanks to the rise of internet television.

"Already more than half of New Zealanders watch internet TV."

Chorus forecast average monthly consumption would hit 170Gb by June and a whopping 680Gb by 2020, driven in part by new technologies.

"Ultra-HD and immersive TV are emerging. They will soon take us to into a virtual world, where a game or programme can be watched from any vantage point, ringside or grandstand.

"Then there is the 'internet of things' that will connect myriad devices from home security cameras and fridges to Fitbits, heatpumps and coffee machines," Nelson said writing in Chorus' in-house magazine Download.