I am at present on a train from Birmingham to Edinburgh trying to use my 3G wireless dongle to browse the internet and check my emails.
I’m not having much success so I thought I would use my laptop to address this question and publish my answer when I get home to a proper internet connection
One reason that the connection is poor is simply that the train is moving fast so I am going through areas of good coverage, poor coverage and no coverage.
This makes the connection unreliable and so far I have had to restart my computer 3 x times because the 3G application has locked up.
In First Class there is a wifi connection in the carriage and they are likely to be suffering the same problem, but possibly to a lesser extent.
The First Class wifi system is linked to a 3G mobile system with an antenna that is mounted outside the train, a bit like a car radio antenna.
The external 3G antenna will have a better chance of picking up a signal and should therefore give a better, more reliable connection.
The First Class passengers will be having some problems, but they should be having a better internet experience than me.
As a general point I have been very disappointed with the quality of 3G mobile coverage.
On all the 3G mobile phones that I have had over the last few years I have had to switch off the 3G signal to get better battery life and better reception.
I have also given this advice to many of my customers.
My 3G dongle has an advertised speed of 7.2Mb/s, but even in a good signal area it feels much slower and less reliable that my home broadband speed which usually operates at about 3.5Mb/s.
A significant part of the problem is due to the fact that the higher frequency 3G signals do not go through walls and other obstacles as well as 2G signals.
I also suspect that the 3G data network is increasingly suffering from congestion following the spate of offers of free 3G dongles with free laptops and the increasing prevalence of 3G smart-phones with their social networking apps.
There is talk about the mobile phone networks being used for high speed broadband network in rural parts of the UK with the introduction of 4G technology.
However, my experience with 3G does not give me any confidence that this would be an effective long term solution.