iPhone 5G standalone and reliability in the countryside?

I recently got an iPhone 14pro and noticed while driving through super rural farms my data connection fails much more often than before on my old iPhone SE. I’m trying to learn about 5G and I think it’s because my phone is locked to 5G networks and can’t access the more established 4G networks, is this right?

Every Google search returns something like “5G stand alone is faster!” I don’t really care speed has never been an issue for the last few years for me. I’d much prefer actually having some data than none.

So I’ve turned off 5G standalone in hopes that my phone can now access 4G? Is this right? I just need data in the middle of nowhere.