Circle on iphone 4 and not 3G?

I have had this problem on going for a while now, a circle is appearing next to the carrier EE (orange) and not the 3G. We have phoned customer services and (it was no help) reset network settings and turned the phone off. The internet on the phone is either to slow or not working
Is there any other way to get the 3G appearing back and not have the circle be there
There's no point in phoning customer services for orange as we can't understand a word they're saying.

The circle symbol means you are picking up the GPRS internet signal. This is basically the slowest speed of mobile internet available. If you get an E symbol this means you are connected to Edge mobile internet signal and of course the 3G symbol means you are connected to 3G mobile internet speeds.

Go into settings > general > cellular and make sure 3G is enabled.

If it is, but you are only ever picking up GPRS this could be a fault with the SIM card, a fault with the phones aerial or even just a poor internet/network signal in your area. If other people you know can pick up 3G but you can't - then I'd suspect its a SIM or phone fault.

Try your SIM in another phone.

If it DOES work in another phone (i.e. It picks up 3G), then its the phone that is at fault. Normally with this kind of problem its either an aerial fault, a software fault or another hardware fault in the phone.

If the SIM does NOT work in another phone (it still won't pick up 3G), then the problem could be with the SIM. If the SIM is not working then you need to contact your network and they can help. They can send you a new SIM.

If its the phone, make an appointment at the Apple store (www.apple.com) and see an expert or you could get Orange to send the phone away to Apple for you. If the phones under warranty it won't cost anything to be looked at or repaired.

It depends in your area. The other answers also stated the E Symbol in which whilst I'm at home and sat outside, sometimes I pick up Wi-Fi, then it'll switch to 3G, then E and then the circle. It depends on your area, whereas when I'm in the City Centre, I get 3G constantly with full signal. Sometimes I might get the circle but sometimes my phone just needs a reboot.

Think, are you getting this circle all over? Or just in one particular area?
If it's everywhere, you need to speak to Orange or Apple.