5G phone shows 5G in the status bar how do I test I'm really on 5G?

Net speeds are just so so but that's to be expected miles from a tower.
(And I'm not on AT&T so it's not the fake 5GE they put in the status bar.)

What I didn't expect was 5G in the status bar so far from any tower.
But when I check the cellular signal with "Cellular-Z" it says
DATA NET = LTE
CELL TYPE = LTE
I'm new to 5G.
What's a good way to be sure that the 5G in the status bar is for real?

Gronk laid this down on his screen :
> 5G phone shows 5G in the status bar how do I test I'm really on 5G?
>
> Net speeds are just so so but that's to be expected miles from a tower.
> (And I'm not on AT&T so it's not the fake 5GE they put in the status bar.)
>
> What I didn't expect was 5G in the status bar so far from any tower.
> But when I check the cellular signal with "Cellular-Z" it says
> DATA NET = LTE
> CELL TYPE = LTE
>
> I'm new to 5G.
> What's a good way to be sure that the 5G in the status bar is for real?

Go to the Play Store and download Network Cell Info. They do a Lite
version but the Pro version is only 2.79GBP per year and has absolute
LOADS of information about your service/carrier.

Cliff Topp wrote:

>> What's a good way to be sure that the 5G in the status bar is for real?
>
> Go to the Play Store and download Network Cell Info. They do a Lite
> version but the Pro version is only 2.79GBP per year and has absolute
> LOADS of information about your service/carrier.

Network Cell Info crashes every time on my Android 11 phone.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wilysis.cellinfolite

But others come up good that also have loads of information about signal
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tts.imnos_mobile
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=make.more.r2d2.cellular_z

But what out of all that loads of information tells me I'm using 5G data?

Gronk wrote:

> But what out of all that loads of information tells me I'm using 5G data?

I found out it's not only AT&T who puts fake 5G icons in the status bar.
https://smartphones.gadgethacks.com/how-to/heres-difference-between-real-5g-fake-5g-0308792/

"T-Mobile is displaying a 5G icon in the status bar of some phones even when
the phone is using a 4G connection. It appears the 5G icon shows up if the
cell tower you're connected to is capable of 5G even when the phone doesn't
support that particular 5G signal... Network scanning apps confirm this by
showing the technology used is still LTE."

That article suggested Spy to prove out which band was really being used.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.novvia.fispy

But Signal Spy isn't as good as either Mobile Trace or Cellular-Z are.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tts.imnos_mobile
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=make.more.r2d2.cellular_z

What's interesting is even with 5G in the status sometimes Cellular-Z shows
DATA NET = LTE
CELL TYPE = LTE
And other times with 5G still in the status bar Cellular-Z shows
DATA NET = NR
CELL TYPE = NR

The NR is important (I found out NR stands for "New Radio") because without
the "n" prefix it could be an LTE band (eg band 71 is a 4G LTE frequency but
band n71 is the 5G NR frequency).

Sometimes the tools indicate "Band 41" & other times "Band 71" which at
least makes sense now that I know they're 5G bands supported on my phone.

What this revelation means though is that the "5G" in the status bar is
sometimes meaningless as you can be connected either to LTE or to 5G.

The only way to really know is to use a network scanning tool like I did.