Wired:

Some AT&T customers noticed a strange phenomenon earlier this year. The upper left corner of their smartphones began displaying “5GE,” ostensibly indicating their phones were using 5G technology.

As has been much discussed, this is a marketing ploy, since 5G is not rolled out publicly yet.

Even beyond 5GE, there’s a lot of confusion about what the letters, bars, and other symbols on your phone actually mean. Experts say interpreting them may only become more complicated as 5G rolls out in the coming years.

Interesting read. Especially the part about the difference between number of bars and signal-to-noise ratio. And the fact that cheaper phones frequently outperform more expensive phones in signal quality.