I’m going to be honest and say that I do not understand most of the technical jargon in that article or how it applies to the scenario. I don’t know what to tell you because both my and others real world experience have seen battery improvements when disabling 5G. Could just be where the towers are in my area or something, but that’s how it is for me and others.

When my phone is connected to a 5G signal, it is connected to “5G UC” which the forum user in the first article stated is a specific type of 5G signal which consumes more battery. I don’t know if that bit about it being a specific type of signal is true, but the battery effect I have noted in practice. I don’t have a Pixel phone, but I do use T-Mobile. I also often have a worse time trying to use data when my phone says “5G UC”…occasionally giving me a poor signal unless I disable it. I live in a very well populated, major metro area. I don’t live out in the sticks and I don’t live in an incredibly hyper dense urban center with excessive people crowding the cell towers. My phone is a flagship-level phone from 2023. So idk.

Edit: I feel like this is the 1080p vs 4k debacle all over again. I cannot for the life of me tell the difference between the two at a normal viewing distance. On a computer monitor? Sure. On a TV where you’re sitting across the room and not on top of the screen? Absolutely not. Same with 4G vs 5G for me. No discernible difference in speed for “normal” usage. I’m sure if I was cloud gaming or torrenting a file I’d notice, but the average person isn’t doing that.