Cumbria has been highlighted as one UK region which suffers from particularly poor broadband services.

New research commissioned by the BBC has shown that three million British homes are unable to receive a connection of up to 2Mb, with the north-western country singled out as a Wi-Fi "notspot".

This is despite the North West Regional Development Agency launching a £19 million scheme to improve access to broadband services in the county last year.

Lindsey Annison, who has been campaigning for better internet speeds in her area for 20 years, told BBC News that the services in her region have not improved.

She said: "On a really good day I can get a 1Mb connection, but you can't do anything with it. I can't use Skype, for example."

Ms Annison added that the outlying farms in her community cannot receive any connection at all.

Statistics published by the telecoms regulator Ofcom earlier this month showed that 17.4 million UK households and businesses in the UK had access to high-speed internet services at the end of 2008.