Internet on the go?

Who is your phone carrier?

Amtrak's wifi is very limited. We went on a trip to DC and could not watch any movies, not even music. T-Mobile was very limited in small towns and no data in even smaller towns.

If the train ride isn't too long, you could load up some movies and/or music on the sd card.

 

Uhm, your cellular service will give you internet. Of course you have to pay for it though.

 

If you're going to be traveling a long distance there's a possibility whatever cellular carrier you have won't have adequate coverage for your entire journey. U.S. carriers are very territorial so your trip may start out with pretty good coverage but a few hours later you could be far enough away that you've crossed over into a different carrier's 'turf'. Go to the web site of your carrier and they'll probably have a coverage map and see how it correlates with your trip. (...and take into consideration the map will most likely be a an over-estimation of actual coverage.)
Also, if your kids are thinking about streaming a lot of video content, don't forget to give a lot of thought about your data plan charges and caps.

 

They have WiFi on some trains and buses in the UK. However they specifically state that it's not suitable for YouTube and the like. But OK for basic browsing, email, tweets, etc. All WiFi on public transport depends on cellular data, just like your own phone anyway.

Cellular coverage on high speed(200MPH) trains in China tends to be very good, 3G and 4G, and not patchy at all. But then there's only three national carriers, and they got the high speed rail and major highways pretty well covered all over.

 

Mike, how is the safety aspect of those high speed trains?

seems like if the slightest thing were to go wrong with the rails, there would be an awful pile up.

 

Because it's China? Lol. AFAIK Europe has the fastest trains.

 

It's France actually with the TGV. Set the world speed record for a train. I know it's definitely not the UK.

 

Apparently they're very safe. There's only been one major crash with them, Wenzhou. Official version it was a signal failure caused by a severe thunderstorm and was less than 100MPH, two trains collided.

China originally got its high speed trains from Japan's bullet trains, Shinkansen. Thing is all these 200MPH+ trains are running on specially built lines, there's no level crossings, they're quite straight with very wide bends, and relatively few switches.

Train travel in China is very cheap as well, about a quarter the cost of flying, and without the hassle of airport security. in fact I'm sometimes more concerned when travelling at this sort of speed...