T-Mobile is officially investigating the 3G / EDGE fluctuation issues that folks have been reporting. A posting over on T-Mob's official support forums is now asking for users with verifiable problems to report a few key stats including their location, the nature of the problem (no 3G or 3G / EDGE switching), and whether they've got another AWS 3G phone handy that's performing better. The company says that it hopes "to have more information for you soon".

Here is a temporary solution that the user found. For those who can't stand the slowness of their EDGE connections, this may be worth trying. The only problem with the fix is that when you do actually leave 3G coverage, you won't automatically fall back onto EDGE. You'll have to go and change the settings manually.

"OK. I found 'Phone Info' screen through 'Any Cut'. This looks like a screen not intended for average users. It clearly has settings that should not be messed with. However, it does have a pull down menu that was set to 'WCDMA Preferred'. I changed this to 'WCDMA Only'. The phone reset, and never again saw the f'ing 'E' on the signal indicator- ALL 3G. After about 1/2 hour of speed tests (150k - 800kbps) and google satellite map downloads (all definitely faster), I switched back to 'WCDMA Preferred'. Guess what? After a few minutes, I was back on EDGE, even with a good signal. Switched back to 'WCDMA Only', and 3G it remains."