I learned today that my ticket never got opened, despite them saying they would do so and then email me the ticket #'s.  Called back today and spoke with a very helpful rep who seems to have finally taken ownership of these issues.  She opened a new ticket for me and we'll see what they say.

In other news, Verizon finally acknowledged an issue in this forum post!  https://community.verizonwireless.com/message/1004741#1004741

Hi wootang12, We certainly appreciate the details relating to your service. Having the best speeds is definitely important. Upon review of the area I do show that our engineers are aware of data speed issues in your location. We're currently investigating the issue and evaluating improvement locations for the data issues at hand, thanks! MatthewS_VZW VZW Support Follow us on Twitter @VZWSUPPORT