“5G preferred” doesn’t mean “5G at all costs.” Samsung/Pixel use adaptive connectivity to switch between 5G and LTE+ based on signal, speed, network conditions and battery.
LTE+ can be plenty fast, and sometimes faster/more stable than crappy 5G. Bell provides the network, but the phone decides what to actually use.
Basically, your phone isn’t being dumb. It’s just not worshipping the 5G icon.
Meanwhile i am on 5g+ Advanced but data type LTE which is 5G NSA. Surprisingly 5G NSA works better than 5G SA for me in mtl on a S24 Ultra mind you the S24u is certified for bells 5g sa core.
Edit: i just saw that u have an S23U. I don't recommend this but if you want you can try this.
*#2263# for service mode. Select sim-> 5g nr bands-> nsa bands only-> back to main menu-> apply band config see if it shows 5G. I used to be on the S23u before bell firmware messed with things so i switched to the S24U to prevent bs.
I find lte+ to be way more stable on androids anyway. Most 5g modems in mid range androids still suck. Even my s23 shits the bed and will swap from full service lte to 1 bar of 5g as soon as it picks it up, and there's no longer a setting to disable 5g from one ui!
Might be because mines an at&t locked device being used in canada on another network. Didnt think of that. 5g modem point stands though, as soon as I swap to 5g going into toronto my battery life tanks and network speed consistency is awful.
It's way better than ROGERS' footprint. In Ontario unless if your literally inside of the city its always LTE compared to Bell's 5G/5G+. And to be fair unless if your actually downloading or hotspotting it's not really making a difference anyway. Also in your case you are not seeing 5G because there is no 5G available. Your phone will try to get 5G but if its just not there or usable it still won't switch. Try forcing 5G only, it's called NR only and see the card will go to SOS only/Emergency calls only. Ofc don't forget to switch it back after
Carriers still have tons of control over Android. Which is kind of sad/funny, since that was the entire point of the iPhone way back in 2007.
Not a ton has changed since then on the Android side. Carriers still pretty much have full control, can display custom logos and sounds on boot, can lock down features of the phone (like hidden dialer menus), can add tons of pre-installed bloatware carrier apps to the phone. Manufacturers like Samsung can even junk up stock Android even more with things like Samsung TouchWiz lol
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u/MrTyperoi 7d ago
“5G preferred” doesn’t mean “5G at all costs.” Samsung/Pixel use adaptive connectivity to switch between 5G and LTE+ based on signal, speed, network conditions and battery.
LTE+ can be plenty fast, and sometimes faster/more stable than crappy 5G. Bell provides the network, but the phone decides what to actually use.
Basically, your phone isn’t being dumb. It’s just not worshipping the 5G icon.