Photo by ep_jhu.

The frustrations of Amtrak are so many that even the CEO has acknowledged—and cried—about them. Probably the most consistent complaints from travelers, though, are about the sorry state of Wi-Fi. Although Amtrak announced plans last year to upgrade its capacity, things are still bleak.

Dear Amtrak, your Wi-Fi makes me feel like I am using dial up in 1995.

— Alexis (@poodlestar) April 21, 2015

You know whats crazy, the fact that @JetBlue has better Wi-Fi from coast to coast then @Amtrak does on the northeast tracks. #interwebs

— Brandon Lerner (@lernerbrandon) April 20, 2015

National Journal (unscientifically) chronicled just how bad the Wi-Fi is in tests to and from New York during peak hours. They recorded good speeds in both Union Station and Penn Station … and preciously few places in between.

All of New Jersey, for example, was a major dead spot on both legs (yes, insert New Jersey joke here), recording speeds of between 0.1 mbps and 1 mbps.

Really the only other place besides the stations where you could qualify the coverage as good was on the leg between D.C. and Baltimore—and they only found that on the morning trip up to New York.

Via National Journal.

The full map from D.C. to New York in the morning:

Via National Journal.

And the return trip during the evening rush:

Via National Journal.

In summary: Head up to the bus terminal and grab a book from the new free lending library at Union Station before boarding.