[entropism]

I work for Sprint, so take this as it is:

For your texts and delay issues: You really need to speak to ADVANCED tech support, when you call in to tech, ask to be transferred to advanced. Have them make a ticket for you to have your data services rebuilt from the ground up, something is getting messed up in the main servers somewhere. Dropping yourself down to 1X will do nothing but hurt your connection speeds, it won't solve your issues.

The Airrave is actually QUITE nice, and if you call up and speak to account services, depending on how many issues you actually have, there's decent odds in getting it for free.

Lastly, where are you located? If there's a good Sprint service store in your area, they can be wonderful to deal with and will get you all set up, but I've heard way too many horror stories from BAD repair stores. If you happen to be in NJ, I'd be glad to help you through this. Send me a PM if you don't want to say where you are in the thread.