iPhone 4 - signal propagation issues because of "the band"?

I did what I thought was a pretty good test on this antenna. The fishing test!

I took the family fishing about 60 miles out of town. We brought my iphone4 and my wifes Nokia (non smartphone plain phone). Both of these phones are on the same ATT network.

When we got to our fishing spot, I took out the 2 phones and checked signal strength. The Nokia was at almost full bars. I tried a few calls and everything was clear and working well.

The iphone4 (w/hardcase on it)...had no signal whatsoever. It said 'no service'. I made sure that roaming was on. I even tried it with it off. I just could not get a signal at all.

This tells me that its not just as simple as putting a case/bumper on your iphone and you are are good to go. This tells me that my wifes cheap Nokia has a better antenna and signal than my expensive iphone4.

I am still within the 30 day return option. The iOS update should come before my time is up so I will wait and see what that does. I am very doubtful that it will change anything though.

Very disappointing.
 
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I've noticed at times that if I have "mediocre" signal, i.e. 2-3 bars, and kill my service via holding the phone, it will reconnect with 5 bars still in my hand and sustain that signal until I let go of it and grab it again.
 
That is the problem I have. With my 3GS in areas I usual went I had full bars and 3G service. With my iphone 4 in the same areas, I have either no service or 1 like bar and it sits on E no 3G. And yet Apple still says that their is no problem and that the next firmware upgrade will fix most signal problems. I don't think a software fix is going to fix a hardware design flaw....
 
All the new software update is going to do is "fix" the formula used to calculate how many bars the phone should display. I tested the grip of death out in a lower coverage area and it was much worse. My bumper finally shipped though so I shouldn't have to worry about it to much if that truly fixes it.
 
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