When did these issues start? I don't live in Appleton, but I've visited it multiple times this year to play a cell phone based game that pretty much depends on a reliable 3G signal (Ingress), and noticed no signal issues in Appleton or Neenah. It's been a couple months since my last visit though, so there could be new issues I haven't been down there to notice yet.
If your issues are that severe, I would be concerned they are device or configuration related rather than network related, and may not be effected at all by network upgrades. You might want to check with a Sprint store and see if they can find any issues with your device that are effecting reception.
Just a thought,
Kevin