i carry the vx6000 since the beginning of february and have been selling them since january and i havent heard of the phone shutting down completely. thats a manufacturer issue and you should have taken it in to get repaired. as far as signal goes maybe the motorola might pull a little better signal, but the 6000 is a digital only phone as well.. there are other things that also come into consideration when it comes to signal.

the only reason i got the 6000 was cause sofolo had one, we both work at the same us cellular dealer. i used to carry the 9500 which was awesome but the battery life was horrible. id still carry that phone if i hadnt drop it so much.