p-p-p-pow!
switched over to AT&T and now it seems that I have texting back! Not sure exactly what was the cause, but I'm glad it's working again! data is still really slow, according to speed test I'm getting about 1,000ms ping and 40kb/s down and up. I'll let you know if I find any bugs.
Thinking if I end up with a new phone, either the Nexus 4 ($300-350) or the I747 version of the S3 ($199 subsidized with a contract) would do, just a matter of how important it is to have a pentaband phone straight from google contract-free... or having LTE, removable battery and expandable memory. And of course, how much dev support they get.
On that note, Socim, thank you for all your help and for your hard work bringing this sweet ROM to our model! I wouldn't even know where to start doing what you do for fun! Cheers man!