Bad service and speaker is not clear at all

where ever I go I never have full service. In my home it says I only have one bar. When I go outside the bars dont even go up. Now in my buddys basement I have absolute 0 service in his basement which doesnt make sense to me because I used to get perfect reception with my old phone(env 2). Once I get out of his basement text messages, missed calls and voicemails pop up like crazy.

Another issue is the crappy in call speaker volume its all crackley and stuff
Anyone got any ideas what it is.

I very rarely say this but...check with VZW. When it comes to service there is really nothing that can be done on the user end. I live in a notoriously bad service area with competing US and Canadian cell towers but the Eris has always had good service for me. As for the volume issue...what jrocker said.

Dealing with the exact same Eris issues.  I've had 3 Eris phones since the end of March...2 in the past week!  All phones have at most 2 bars.  I've seen 3 flicker for a second or two but NEVER 4.  I was sitting elbow to elbow with my husband and he was on his Motorola Droid...with 4 bars...I had one or none.  I tried *228 4 times before the call finally went through just last night!  All this on the 3rd phone verizon has given me(telling me each time it must be the phone).  I like all the features and everything about the Eris...just HATE that it won't work!  At breakfast this morning(last straw), sitting with husband(we are on a family plan together) and 3 other verizon customers and 2 other carrier customers....ALL of them had FULL BARS.  I had one or none.
Went to verizon store AGAIN for the second time in 2 days.  Saw the guy who sent me a new phone 4 days ago.  Told him this phone is a replacement for THAT one.  He was pissed.  He called someone in customer service who wouldn't help him or me much.  Wanted me to do a log of my dropped calls by dialing *** after each call.  He had me test that like 5 times and each time I tried it said CALL LOST!!!!  He STILL wouldn't give me some other kind of phone.  The store guy was MAD MAD MAD.  He got HIS manager and they are sending me a Motorola Droid that I should have in a day or two.  IF I still have this issue with the different phone then it will be determined that it's a network issue EXCLUSIVE to MY line/service.
Can I just tell you that downloading everything 3 flipping times to new phones has been a complete beating!
On this current phone, when I did the activation....it took 3 dang tries for the call to complete and the activation to work!!!  HELLO.....PROBLEM HERE??   I tried *228 to better the signal and that call failed 4 times before it worked.  vacuums!