The marketing guys got involved with this indicator and completely ruined its trustworthiness.
I think it's not so much a nerd thing rather than a false advertising one though.
But what do you suggest instead (on Android, a Pixel specifically)?
Ps I looked it up, it can show it if the cell has 5G even if you're not connected to that at the moment, not if the network has it somewhere.
But each provider makes different choices. They have like 4 options to choose from.
You can use a network monitor app (or the built in one but it's a bit technical) to see what you're really connected to.
As a matter of fact, the only phone I ever got with a mobile plan was my first mobile phone, a Motorola RAZR flip phone more than 2 decades ago.