I too have a Razr Maxx and I live less than a mile from my cell tower, but in what Verizon now calls a "variable signal area" - which means we get crappy signal (often 1X) most of the time if we're lucky. Distance from the tower is only part of the signal strength equation. The .215 upgrade did not impact my signal strength at all.
When I got my Razr Maxx, it too showed less signal bars than my previous phone and I was concerned. By checking the signal strength values in settings, I discovered that the bars my Maxx showed did not agree with the signal strength numbers. I think it's a problem with at least some of the Razr Maxx's. (Check signal strength by going to system settings -> about phone -> status -> network type and strength.) As a workaround, I installed the Signal Notification app (
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.logicmonkey.signalnotify), which can display the real signal strength as a numeric value in your status bar. That way I know the real signal strength, not just the inaccurate bars readout.
Also, Rootmetrics (
RootMetrics | Measuring mobile performance for you, and with you) provides a great tool for collecting signal strength information and uses it to create a database that lets folks see the real signal data in areas where data has been collected. It shows clearly how often the carriers lie about coverage, but that's another conversation.
The problem may be your particular phone set getting worse reception, but it could just be its signal bars lying to you. Hopefully I have given you some tools to figure that out.