How to fix slow Xbox One download speeds
Source: Matt Brown | Windows Central
Waiting hours for that game download to finish? Almost every Xbox One owner has suffered from slower-than-expected downloads over the years, with countless possibilities behind those issues. Your Xbox One, home network, and numerous external factors can play a role, but reliable troubleshooting steps could provide a path to reclaiming faster speeds. Here’s how to fix slow download speeds on Xbox One consoles.
How to test your Xbox One network connection
Source: Windows Central
Before attempting to address any issues with Xbox One download speeds, we first recommend checking your console’s internet connection. The Xbox One features an inbuilt tool designed to help users analyze their Xbox Live connectivity, which outputs several valuable troubleshooting statistics. These help to provide a bearing on your network speed and stability, both crucial to consistent downloads. The network statistics sit just a few button presses away on Xbox One.
- Open Settings on your Xbox One.
- Navigate to the General tab.
- Select the Network settings tile.
- Select the Test network speed & statistics tile. Your Xbox One will perform a network test.
Your Xbox One will display a variety of internet statistics, following a successful network test. The download speed is crucial, visualizing how fast your Xbox One can download data, and providing the closest bearing on expected download times. The value is often displayed in megabits per second (Mbps), with eight megabits translating to one megabyte. For example, in an ideal setting, an 80 Mbps connection could deliver up to 10 MB to your Xbox One every second, or around 36 GB each hour.
Source: Windows Central
Cross-reference your Xbox One’s connection test results with other devices on your network — for example, a PC via an online speed test tool. While each device has its own variables, other devices showing significantly better results indicates an issue with your Xbox One, rather than your network.
How to speed up Xbox One downloads
Restart your Xbox One console
Source: Matt Brown / Windows Central
Close all games and apps
Source: Windows Central
For the best Xbox One download speeds, we recommend closing any games and apps. The console provides the ability to force-quit your software, preventing it from silently working in the background. Here’s how to fully close your most recent Xbox One game and ensure your downloads receive the attention they deserve.
- Press the Xbox button. The Guide menu will appear from the left-hand side.
- Scroll down to your most recent game.
- Press the Menu button represented by three lines. A pop-up menu will appear.
- Select the Quit tile. The game or app will close.
To ensure the fast possible download speeds, close any games and apps currently running on the console. The Xbox One’s instant-on power mode is equally effective, allowing downloads to continue without interruption while entering a sleep state.
Wired or wireless? The pros and cons
Source: Matt Brown / Windows Central
Wired connections always provide the best speeds and stability. Connecting your console via the rear ethernet port is a direct line to your network, with the best possible download and upload speeds. While wireless networks continue to improve, the old-fashioned wire is unbeaten for range and performance. Ethernet cables come in many varieties, but any modern cable will provide more than enough throughout for a premium experience.
Going cable-free also has its benefits, primarily removing the need to run a physical tether to your device. But depending on your router, two wireless bands are widely used: 2.4GHz and 5GHz connections.
Using a 5GHz connection provides additional bandwidth, capped as high as 1300Mbps, up to double of 2.4GHz wireless. That can support faster downloads, but with a reduced range over its 2.4GHz alternative. However, the range of 2.4GHz connections isn’t always a good thing, with possible interference from other 2.4GHz networks and separate local wireless devices. Your Xbox One’s detailed network statistics lists “Wireless strength,” which provides an idea of how reliably your connection performs.
It’s becoming increasingly common for modern routers to offer dual-band WiFi connectivity, which provides both frequencies. While wired is the way to go if possible, 5GHz networks are a significant step up from the standard 2.4GHz offering.
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Avoid peak times where possible
Source: Windows Central
Peak times fall during the late afternoon and into the evening, when returning home from work or school and jumping onto Xbox Live. We also see downloads slow in other high-demand scenarios, like users scrambling to redownload Fortnite, ahead of a one-of-a-kind event. In situations like these, check your ISP and Xbox Live status pages for updates, or return another time.
Change your Xbox One DNS settings
Source: Windows Central
Unless you’ve previously changed up your DNS settings, your Xbox One likely uses the default DNS settings offered by your internet service provider (ISP) for Xbox Live. While using these settings is perfectly viable, you may see slightly increased speeds when switching to a third-party anycast solution. Here’s how to take advantage of popular third-party DNS services such as GoogleDNS and OpenDNS, on your Xbox One console.
- Open Settings on your Xbox One.
- Navigate to the General tab.
- Select the Network settings tile.
- Select Advanced settings.
- Select DNS Settings.
- Select Manual to manually enter a new address.
- A screen will now appear to enter an address.
- If you’re using Open DNS, enter 208.67.222.222.
- If using Google DNS, enter 8.8.8.8.
- If using another third-party service, enter the primary address here.
- After confirming the primary address, you’ll next be prompted to enter a secondary address.
- If you’re using Open DNS, enter 208.67.220.220.
- If using Google DNS, enter 8.8.4.4.
- If using another third-party service, the secondary address should go here.
If you wish to revert back to your default DNS settings at any point in time, switch your DNS settings back to Automatic via the same menu.
Note: If you’re using an IPv6-enabled connection, the above IPv4 addresses can be used for IPv6 DNS lookups.
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