Rural residents and employers with limited or no access to broadband are being urged to get in touch with the Country Land and Business Association (CLA).

Teaming up with IT and social media expert John Popham, the CLA is set to embark on a tour of some of England's remote communities to mark Get Online Week 2011, which will run from October 30th to November 6th.

The trip will be entitled Can't Get Online Week, with the rural campaign group aiming to draw attention to the issue of poor connectivity outside of the country's urban centres.

As well as raising awareness of the problem, the CLA is keen to help the communities it visits to gain access to broadband services.

Mr Popham said one of his goals for the tour is to teach people how to use social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, even if they have previously come across "seemingly impossible barriers" such as lack of broadband and have concerns about using unfamiliar technology.

"I believe passionately in the power of the internet to transform people's lives for the better and I want to make sure that people who live and work in remote rural communities don't miss out," he explained.

CLA president William Worsley claimed many country residents are frustrated at the difficulty of getting a good, reliable broadband connection.

"The CLA is lobbying to ensure that every rural business and household can access a broadband connection of at least 2Mbps," he added.

Campaigners from the organisation have been lobbying the government since 2003 for public sector money to be spent on rural super-fast broadband provision and described the recent award of £363 million of funding as a "major victory".

At the time, Mr Worsley said remote parts of the country are currently "woefully underserved" by any kind of broadband connection, super-fast or otherwise.

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