Yes, the 4.6iS has been shipped from US in 2007 to Costa Rica, and I drove it there, on the PanAmerican highway (highway is just a name, in many places it is a dirt road!) from Managua to Panama City a few times... Cierra de la Muerte (a bypass to PanAm hwy in Costa Rica) is a bitch to drive on... lol...

In 2009 the car was shipped from CR, via Miami to Antwerp and then to Russia, and then in 2010 it went back to US...

Compas,

was this always the case? when you first installed the BT, was it working properly? check the connections and the termination of the coax cable - if the cable is not properly terminated or if the shielding is shorting to the core wire (even one strand) it will seriously diminish the range of the signal... The BT antenna should have the shiny bottom surface (If i remember correctly!), is that surface in proper touch with the metal bracket?

Since your phone is pairing in close proximity, that means that there is a signal to pair to, but the range seems to be too short, so it needs to be investigated...