Was at Apple and ATT stores today trying to sort out the same issue of failed calls/texts and extreme signal bar variability (5 bars to 'no service' in the same place). Apple provided me a new phone but this did not solve the problem. They had seen customers saying the same thing w OS5 upgrade just the last few days, but didn't know what is going on yet. ATT online could not figure it out. ATT store said it is not the SIM and that many of their customers at this store had come in with the same problem of losing the phone/text functions completely with the OS5 upgrade.
According to the service person there, apparently the ATT central customer service is just now becoming aware of the problem. He said in our area (west of Philadelphia) it is a very significant affecting many customers. He guessed the problem is an ATT hard tech problem at the towers and suggested waiting a few days to see if it clears up! Clearly, no one knows what's going on yet.