In the dialler enter *#*#4636#*#*, then go to Phone information and under "Set preferred network type" select LTE/TDSCDMA/GSM/WCDMA.
Or you could just do it from the GUI i
Internet settings , mobile provider, set preferred network to 4g.
I did this a while back and no network issues since, I'm on WiFi most of the time so not bothered.
Must say the phone is getting better, as Google decoupled a lot of modules from one large monolithic update, a lot of improvements come from updating pixel specific apps from the play store.
They started doing this on Android 11 or 12, must say my phone has gotten much smoother with these updates, this is why the monthly updates are small.
Make sure you keep an eye on the updates of Google apps via Playstore, a lot our pixel specific apps