When doing business travel, it is often important to get online to avoid getting behind with urgent e-mails, etc. In my old job we were issued with Blackberries which I did not particularly like. I think they were issued by my American employer as an attempt to get us to work in our private time. Also for many things - like checking spreadsheets and presentations the screen format was too small to be useful. They were good though for answering simple questions or doing e-mail approvals. If I had time at an airport I preferred to open my laptop and pay for local wifi access by credit card.

In my old job we were expected to work when flying despite the fact that I could only open my laptop properly in economy class if the seat next to me was emplty and I could sit obliquely. When I started doing market research for being self-employed, I purchased a Samsung NC10 netbook which seemed to combine good battery life, a reasonable keyboard and a very small size which is an advantage travelling. It is small enough to be unfolded on a plane or train. I was pleasantly surprised back in February to find that on the train from Inverness to Kings Cross there was a wifi service which while slow was very useful.

I am now using the same netbook on the Pendelino from Glasgow to London and thought I should compare internet access this year during train travel.

National Express Inter City 125

I used this again going from London to Pitlochry on the ECML in May. The service is free of charge even in standard class but you are asked to be considerate to other users and avoid large downloads. It was not particularly fast but certainly quite usable for e-mail or basic web browsing. Very occasionally, I got disconnected and had to reconnect but the journey was fairly long.

Virgin Pendelino

A few days later I took the WCML with a Virgin Pendelino from Lancaster to Birmingham. This time I found out that the wifi was a commercial service supplied by T-Mobile. I ended up paying £4.90 for 1 hour (24 h would have been £9.79). The service seemed reliable - though I was only connected for the hour - and seemed to be a similar speed to that from National Express. However in both cases the number of people online would have been a major factor with speed.

Vodafone 3G/GPRS Dongle

A month ago I decided that I wanted to avoid wifi charges (in airports, hotels and trains) and took the plunge with a Vodafone dongle. More rural areas are not covered by 3G, but it reverts to GPRS (2.5G) if necessary. I am using this service today as I write. Compared with the wifi on the train the speed is comparable but varies with location. The disadvantage is that you get occasionally cut off and have to reconnect (usually fairly quick). While this has not hindered me greatly it is more frequent than with wifi. Worst areas were just north of London, near the Lake District and just north of Carlisle.

For me as an infrequent train traveller I think using Vodafone has been the best choice. I suppose a regular traveller with Virgin inter city services would find the T-Mobile monthly pricing a possible alternative (though more than I pay for Vodafone). Happiest of all would be a regular traveller with National Express.