Research by GameBench found mid-band 5G spectrum offered gamers a better experience than low-band, with performance more akin to a Wi-Fi-based broadband connection when playing cloud-based titles.

The company produces software to measure app performance: in a test of gaming title Destiny 2 on Google’s Stadia cloud platform conducted in Los Angeles, it found 2500MHz spectrum offered the best overall performance when compared against mobile broadband using 600MHz and fixed-line broadband accessed over Wi-Fi.

It trialled the games using Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G smartphone.

Using mid-band spectrum, GameBench achieved a typical rate of animation of 59fps, equal to the fixed broadband, with the worst figure of 57fps significantly higher than the 40fps of the Wi-Fi option.

The latter was also eclipsed by low-band spectrum, which delivered 42fps at its worst and an average of 54fps.

Frame rate variability (jumpiness) was four-times worse on low- than mid-band spectrum.

GameBench also ranked mid-band and Wi-Fi as “ultra” in terms of what it dubs animation fluidity experience, with low-band rated “good”.

On the game play latency experience rating, none of the three connectivity methods scored in the ultra category, though Wi-Fi outperformed the mobile options.