Actually.. this is the answer.
You have to change the EV-DO setting. You have to go into your configuration, ##778, verizon MSL 000000
then do the following:
Also on this page is your preferred operation mode. The Default is Automatic, which is the best available mode (EV that will roll back to 1X when EV is unavailable). There are times when you might be in a fringe area and your mode may cycle frequently and this can seriously drain your battery. Changing this setting to CDMA Only will force the phone to ignore an EV-DO tower and maintain only a 1xRTT connection.
This disabled the autoconnect for me.