Advice for atypical reception issue

[StephenAndrew]

Hi all, I seem to have an issue with my iPhone 4 that I haven't seen covered or examined yet. I live in an area with spotty service - usually it's 1-2 bars, but sometimes it drops to "searching." The issue is that it often gets "stuck" on searching and won't recognize a good service area when I travel away from my house. Sometimes I don't notice for a while, but when I do realize it's searching (in an area I know has good service) I'll turn airplane mode on and off again and that seems to make the phone "wake up" and recognize that it's in an area with good service, and displays the proper number of bars. It's pretty annoying, especially if I go out and don't look at my phone for a couple hours, only to realize it's still "searching" and I've missed calls/texts/emails/etc. I was told by an Apple employee that the 4.0.1 update would cure this, but it hasn't. Anyone else experiencing this? Is it worth bringing it in and having it examined (I live over an hour to the nearest Apple store, so it's not like I can just pop in on my way to work)? Do you think they'll replace it or tell me I'm SOL? Aside from this matter I'm very satisfied with the it - no proximity sensor issues and when it's not "searching" I do have better reception than my 3GS.

 

[eawmp1]

I'm trying to reconcile your searching issue with the statement you have better reception than with your 3GS. I'd document it and try an exchange.

 

[StephenAndrew]

How do I document it? Just make a note of when and where it happened or is there a more sophisticated way?