I normally get a 5 bar 2G signal in my house with the phone set to "dual" mode. I occasionally see the signal go to between 3 & 5 bars on 3G and occasionally 3.5G (but normally only after I've been outside and then come back indoors - if I stay inside the dual mode always seems to land me with 2G).

I've recently discovered that while my phone is showing 2G on dual mode in my house, I can still force it into 3G mode (via the settings, or more quickly via querty12's excellent 2G/3G control panel applet) and obtain a much faster data connection.

I'd assumed that the dual mode would do this for me whenever possible, but it seems to be pretty crap at it (I wonder how frequently it checks the network/signal & what the thresholds are for auto-switching?).

Anyway: if you are dependant on GPRS for data & your phone is showing 2G on dual mode, AND you will be "static" for your session ... try forcing to 3G. You just may find that there is sufficient 3G signal where you are to switch to that mode despite what the 'dual nanny' thinks.

Largel academic for me as I normally use WiFi at home, but if I do go onto GPRS, overriding the dual mode 2G selection consistantly gives me about 1.5Mb/s on 3G as opposed to about 35 Kb/s 2G, so well worth a quick try