5G connection problems for some older Pixel models: what’s going on?

A smartphone update from Google appears to have caused problems for older Pixel models. In particular, the affected devices would be the Pixel 4a 5G, the Pixel 5 and the Pixel 5a. But what happened, and is there anything to worry about? Let’s go see the problem.

Put simply, these Pixel models after the March security update have apparently lost the ability to connect to the 5G Standalone network. In short, it is a system that allows you to connect to the network via a dedicated radio channel, much faster than the previous method which used less efficient channels.

The trouble is that the update has disabled the ability to connect to 5G Standalone: this does not mean that you can no longer connect to 5G, but many functions have definitely deteriorated. For example, VoNR (Voice over New Radio) technology has been lost, which allows you to make very high quality calls.

But was it a mistake then? According to some, no: it would be a deliberate disabling of the function on smartphones that are no longer worth supporting. In particular, all Pixels using the Google Tensor chip can continue to log in without problems.

Therefore, it is unlikely that the function will return to older phones. There are a few options for bypassing the block: you can avoid upgrading, but this carries a greater security risk. One might therefore think that Google has carried out the operation to convince users to buy newer smartphones: a hypothesis that cannot be excluded, given that the fact occurred after a promotion that advised exchanging an old phone for a new one.