For the sake of anyone googling, I traced the 3G data loss issue to something occurring in startup. I noticed on hard reboots, my data would work fine for a few seconds, then the "Media Scanning" would run 3 full times, after the last time, 3G data would be disabled.
I was already running Autostart Killer to disable a bunch of crap from loading, but also grabbed Startup Manager which was able to detect much more. I disabled everything that looked unnecessary. Now the media scan only runs once (as it used to) and data is fine & dandy.
Also switched from Quick Settings to SwitchPro for my 3G disabling ability. Love SwitchPro's 1-icon-sized dual switch. Have it setup for 3G on/off and brightness 30/50/100/auto. Very nice b/c sometimes auto-brightness is too dim for my tastes, handy to be able to quickly change it.