V3M EVDO problem

A tad long, please be patient.

I have three Motorola phones on my Verizon plan:
-1 Motorola V750 (new in 2008)
-2 Motorola V3M’s (new in 2006)

I live in an area that does not have reliable EVDO coverage. I have successfully disabled the EVDO coverage on all three of the phones, however, one of the V3M’s has recently changed back to the AUTO hdr selection, which allows it to try and lock on the EVDO coverage when available. The problem is that since the EVDO signal is so weak, the battery dies very quickly. The two V3M’s are identical phones same purchase date, same S/W version, etc.

Problem with the V3M in question. I can change the hdr setting to CDMA, then the phone has the 1X service, but just walking in the house from one spot to another, I go from 4 bars to 0 to 3 to 0 to 4, etc. Another problem is that it will show 4 bars, then you go to make a call, and it totally drops the service.

I am about at my wits end with this phone and the crappy EVDO coverage as well. The fact that the system changes the settings back to AUTO (EVDO) coverage automatically really pisses me off.

One last item. I have accessed the settings change screen two ways. The old way I would do it is the common #073887* to get to test mode, etc. The 2nd way (and most recent) was to use the debug method (##33284). Another problem now is that when the phone is shut off, there is still a slightly grey screen visible, with keys lit up.

Did I brick this thing?

FYI, the V3M that is working well had the CDMA selected several times (had to reset after S/W updates) with no problems like this.


Any help that can be provided is greatly appreciated.

 

Oh, another note. Whether the EVDO is disabled or not, I can sit in my chair and have 4 bars on 1X. I place a call, and it goes to zero, call is dropped. I can have 4 bars, try to call the phone from another phone and the call goes straight to VM.