Terrible network reception on Desire range?

Scruff

Asking this as a broader question about the 3 versions of HTC Desires as the network reception on my Desire Z is so poor that its taking the Smart out of Smart phone and i'm seriously considering returning it.
Moved from 02 to meteor and am in a indoor 3G covered area. Stuck a friends meteor sim in my old nokia before I moved to verify i could get decent 3g coverage all over my house and i could; 2 to full bars on 3g all around the house.
The Desire Z isnt performing near as well. The max is 2 bars of 3g reception in only 1 or 2 spots in my house downstairs and up to 4 upstairs but for the most part it reverts back to EDGE all over the house.
I think i'm also seeing something similar to the iphone4 controversy of loosing reception depending on which way you hold it. In a 4 bar reception area i was holding the phone with thumb and forefinger on top and bottom. Changed to cradling it in my hand like in normal use and it dropped to 1 bar. Repeated this a few times.
A side by side comparison walking around my house with a nokia and desire both with Meteor sims shows the nokia always registering 3g connection.

So anyone else having issues like this with Desires or have i just got a dud phone?

deirdre_dub

I regularly find that when I'm in the living room, I have a zero bars signal. I then put the phone on the floor, and I lose signal altogether. That's a good thing, however, as it means that the phone is searching for another tower, and it quickly finds one, with full signal!

It's as if the phone isn't constantly looking out for the best tower to be registered with.