Privacy Cell

To connect to a 5G network, you need three things.

1. The cell phone tower must have a 5G radio.
2. Your cell phone must have a 5G radio.
3. You must have a SIM card that supports 5G.

If you have verified that number 2 and 3 are in place, then the problem is probably with 1.

I am curious, which of the 4G networks from the attached screenshot does Privacy Cell show you are connected to?

I suppose a fourth consideration is that both the 5G radio on the cell phone tower and the 5G radio in the phone must operate on the same frequencies.

Most 5G radios on phones support a whole range of frequencies. For example, consider the list of 5G bands supported by the radio in the Pixel 8:

5G Sub-6: Bands n1/2/3/5/7/8/12/20/25/26/28/29/30/38/40/41/48/66/70/71/77/78
5G mmWave: Bands n258/260/261

https://store.google.com/product/pixel_8_specs?hl=en-US

In any given area, the 5G radios on the cell phone towers will only be operating in a few bands (whatever they have licenses for in that area). If your phone does not support any of the bands used by the cell tower radios, then you won't be able to connect to them.

Typically this is not a problem, especially for flagship devices which tend to support all the bands commonly used anywhere in the world, but it can be a problem if you have a less expensive cell phone that was designed for a foreign market, as it might not have a radio that supports the bands that are common in the country where you live.

I am in the U.S. My provider states that my sim is a 5G sim, but I am not convinced of this. The service reps are not very adept and can only regurgitate what is written in their screen prompts. I used an app to search towers in my area and there are an abundance of 5G radios in my immediate vicinity, and my phone is without a doubt 5G equipped. I attached the 5G bands associated with my Samsung Galaxy A25.

If I were you, I would replace my SIM card and see if that makes a difference. Sometimes they will replace it for free if it is old. Other times you have to pay $15 or $25 (it seems the price goes up every year). But given that everything else about your situation says that you should be connecting via 5G, it would be worth it to rule the SIM card out.

I would also look to make sure that your device isn't set to prefer a 4G LTE connection (some older 5G radios used an intense amount of battery, so setting them to prefer 4G would improve battery life). Attached is a screenshot showing that setting on a Pixel, but it will probably look a little different on a Samsung phone.

My thoughts, also. Thank you, kindly!