Iphone keeps showing a circle instead of 3G?

I have a iphone 4 on tesco. I'm currently in cornwall. When i phoned them they said there isn't 3g in this aread but the phone should work on 2g. I've turned off 3g but my internet still won't work. Can you get internet on an iphone when the circle is up the top instead of 3g. Please answer

I have an iphone 4 and when the circle is in the area that 3G is supposed to be in, that means that there's no signal for internet connection. Go to settings and then press internet connection.

It's searching for a signal; you have no signal and therefore you can't use cellular data.

The o means you are on 1G. 2G would be shown with E & of course 3G would be 3G.

As far as why you aren't even getting 2G I'm not sure. You'd have to talk to them concerning that

@Zach: no, the circle as I said means you are on 1G, it is a slow connection & may time out before actually getting anything done most of the time but it is a connection nevertheless.

@Fatefinger: no, you are thinking of the loading circle with lines around it, not an actual circle & in any case that is displayed on another part of the status bar

Actually i had this problem. I'm from india so when is switch between states my internet won't work due to roaming plans. I too get circle next to my network. I fixed it by enabling data roaming in
settings>general>cellular data>data roaming. See through it.may work.