RAZR V3 Cell Phone Behavior

I have a new RAZR V3 cell phone in a poor cell reception area of
Wilmington, NC.  I have noticed that the phone typically has 2-3
reception bars but then suddenly jumps up to a constant 5 reception
bars whenever I make a call.

Do other RAZR V3 owners see this behavior?  Motorola says that they
have never heard of it, which I find hard to believe.  My only reason
for asking is to try to understand whether the 5 bars during a call
are real or some phone bug.

Thanks