Really poor battery life while roaming, also Alltel --> ATT Switch

[Jackten]

I've recently moved from montana to the bay area. I am an alltel customer with a palm treo pro. Once I got here, my battery life has been dismal. Not using it much more than before.

I've tried a few tips I've found, disabling the IR recieve, brighntess, disabling push notifications, making email check less frequently, but its still really bad. I tried downloading and running the cab file to force roaming, as I'm pretty sure the roaming is the problem. It installed (for sure) and ran (I think), and nothing has changed at all on my phone. Is there something else for me to do? I keep going through all the phone and comm settings and can't find anything to change to this roam option at all. What else is there for me to do? Does that cab only work on sprint Treo Pros?

Another issue I've had is that all incoming SMS appear from an hour ahead of time, as if I were still in montana. The time on the phone is correct for this time zone, all outbound SMS have the correct timestamp but the inbound ones say they're from an hour ahead of time, which messes up the conversation flow and inbox appearances. Alltel tech support said it should resolve itself within 24 hours, but that hasn't happened yet.

I've moved here permanently, and am out of Alltel contract in one month. The transition to ATT is taking place very soon (i guess, but I've heard that for a long long time). I wanted to get an ATT phone/plan once I moved here. It seems like its better for the finalized att switch, as I'll get a new phone without a contract for free. Can I call up ATT to make the switch happen sooner, as I've moved already? Would that put me in contract? Think they'd be willing to make my switch happen early for me?

Any help on any of these issues would be much appreciated,
Thanks in advance.