I followed the Hawaii update link and there was a link to network.Sprint.com (see Hawaii link in original post to get the exact link) ...
So thru the sprint site u can punch in a zip code and it will show updates mapped out in the past since months as well as planned updates.
There were quite a few updates near me, so maybe we will be able to use our epic touch's again. I can go to the local Sprint store and hopefully they will have an epic touch demo model, i can load any site or attempt to play a YouTube video abd right away will know if things have gotten Better, problem is that they usually only have phones setup with wifi at the local store, perhaps because the service it turned out is so slow... which we found out after purchasing, had to cancel our trial ...