The problem leaving many iPhone 4 users without reception has prevented Consumer Reports’ engineers from giving Apple’s latest device a recommendation rating.

Engineers completed testing the iPhone 4 and confirmed Monday a problem with signal loss. “When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phone’s lower left side—an easy thing, especially for lefties—the signal can significantly degrade enough to cause you to lose your connection altogether if you’re in an area with a weak signal,” according to the report. “Due to this problem, we can’t recommend the iPhone 4.”

The three iPhone 4s purchased at separate retailers in the New York area were tested in a controlled environment of CU’s radio frequency (RF) isolation chamber. In this room, test engineers connected the phones to a base-station emulator, a device that simulates carrier cell towers. Engineers also tested several other AT&T phones the same way, including the iPhone 3G S and the Palm Pre. None of those phones had the signal-loss problems of the iPhone 4.

Consumer Reports says the findings call into question the recent claim by Apple that the iPhone 4’s signal-strength issues were largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software that “mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength.”

The tests also suggest AT&T’s network might not be the primary suspect in the iPhone 4’s signal troubles.

Consumer Reports did find an affordable solution. Engineers suggest cover the antenna gap with a piece of duct tape or another thick, non-conductive material. No joke.

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