And solved it. Turns out the evo lte is not robust when it comes to its internet connection and setting it up and handling possible errors. Comcast had reset my modem, which for some reason changed some router settings in my house. The first dhcp server entry on my router was incorrect, however the second one was still valid. Once I fixed the first one, then all the crashes went away.
So its interesting that out of all the dell, asus, samsung, and custom products in this house that the htc is the only thing that apparently ignores a second valid dhcp server and will only use the first one presented to it even if it doesnt work. Its not an android thing since we had other tablets and phones working just fine. I mean theres a reason two are given. It may have been nice to have an actual useful error message as well but I suppose thats up to android and not htc