with a bit more testing with my phone.. i found this..
in very good signal areas, with full bars, gripping it in the bottom left (so the metal bands connect with your hand) does NOT seem to make bars drop or degrade performance.
at my house, where reception can vary, I can CONSISTENTLY make the bars slowly drop all the way by using the death grip. Service never drops completely.
I guess I am not saying anything that isn't known -- but I think some people that can't replicate the issue are either in a very good signal strength area, or, aren't gripping it correctly/long enough to see the bars drop completely.
I really agree that Apple needs to do SOMETHING. A software update isn't going to solve much.
Bottom line for me is that nothing makes the phone unusable -- it's the fastest and best phone I have ever used. Much faster than my 3G. I actually find myself pulling it out rather than getting on my laptop or desktop to cruise the web... and before I absolutely hated browsing on a phone.