New Thunderbolt, New Problems:
I received the new phone. It did not arrive factory reset and I called Verizon support to see if I should do it myself or just enter the accounts. There response was to just enter the accounts and proceed. I noted that, unlike when I had done the factory reset, Google Market forgot about all my free app downloads and I had to search each one out. I still ended up with data network outages except now it was on and off all day long, and this was happening at home and in the office and not someplace new. I also had a few complete crashes and reboots.
Back on the phone with Verizon, I was told to visit a retail Verizon shop and replace the SIM card. It has only been one day, but so far this seems to have worked. SIM card replacement, it seems, can be a fix for certain types of data connection problems involving folks living on the wrong side of the edge of a 4G cell.
Verizon support also asked me to contact Google at a specific number and ask them to remove some corruption he felt was associated with my account. I called Google at the number given and was told that they will not speak with Android users at all. Got to wonder where the disconnect was...
In any case, only a one day test, but I had 3G data this morning without having to do a reboot. Hurray!