He was using mmWave. When 5G first came out, most news stories talked about it being “10 times faster” and that it had a short range, so phone companies would have to put transmitters on every light pole. All of which is true for ultra-wideband/mmWave.

What those stories missed was that UWB/mmWave isn’t the common 5G. Most 5G is mid-band or low-band, which uses regular towers and has a range of miles. As of 2021, latest data I could find, less than 1% of users were on mmWave.