Yeah I get a pretty decent signal. I'm a pretty somewhat heavy user.. I'm on Facebook alot and YouTube a couple times a day sometimes.. I listen to music alot but this morning I hadn't really done any of that.
I know I need to do a factory reset but I hate the fact that I'm gonna lose data :-(
Why would you lose data? Just backup with MyBackup or similar utility, SMS has a built in backup and restore function, all contacts should be backed up to Google or Verizon (GULP!), pictures, videos, music and the like can all be pulled manually to a PC first or if you have no PC use ES File Explorer to move them to the SD Card (it doesn't get wiped).
As far as apps go, those are easy, once the booted and connected to Play Store at least once, log in with a PC, go to the Play Store and then got to My Apps and just click all the ones you want to reinstall and they will push to your phones.