This is definitely NOT a signal issue or lack of 3G coverage. Let me give an example. I drove from Seattle to Portland and had 3G coverage the entire way there and the following day. I then boarded a flight from Portland to Seattle and when I landed in Seattle, I powered up my phone and all I could get was a 1X signal. I waited almost an hour for it to pick up 3G and when it didn't I finally did a *228 option 1 to reprogram. When the programming was complete, the phone rebooted and I had a solid 3G connection. When I woke up the next morning my phone was stuck back on a 1X connection. Again I did a *228 and got it back. A few hours later I drove across town, and it reverted back to 1X. I had my laptop with a Verizon aircard with me and it had a solid 3G signal. About an hour later I reprogrammed again and got it back. The image below (IP address edited), is what you should see in field trial if everything is good. It will say 1=Authenticated and you will have an IP address. The HDR session state should be 4=Open State. If these fields say anything else, you are failing to establish an EVDO session.
I did do a hard reset last night and have been in 3G ever since. I'll report back later.
