Still, a slow download speed is not only about waiting for your games, apps, and updates for too long. There’re additional symptoms:
Your app and game installations are taking longer than usualThe download or update progress bar doesn’t advance forwardYour download progress resets
These are hints of an unstable internet connection. It leads to various errors that affect your Xbox’s network functions.
Why Is My Download Speed on Xbox Slow?
There’re various possible reasons why the download speed on Xbox is slow. Even though most of these relate to your broadband speed, there’re settings and uses that may be harming the consoles’ network.Here’re the possible reasons:
How to Increase Download Speed on Xbox
The following solutions work for the Xbox One, as well as the Xbox Series. Yet, there’s a particular solution that only works for the newer devices.Regardless, these consoles work similarly and share the same user interface. More importantly, you need to download a game or an app to play it or use it.If the game is large and requires a lot of memory, it may take days until you try its gameplay.That said, rather than trying our solutions one by one, you’d perhaps need a combination of various methods. In other words, try doing all of our fixes, one by one, before trying to download the content again.
Close Your Apps and Games
First, you should know that using your console while downloading content slows the network speed. Scratch that: playing slows down the overall system. So, the new stuff you’re getting from Microsoft’s Store will take longer. Naturally, you should close all of your games and apps when you’re downloading content. And if you’re going to play, you should pause the downloads until you’re done. So first, to close apps or games, here’re the steps:You can also navigate to your recently played games on the home screen, highlight the title, press the menu button, and select Quit.Then, to pause a download, here’re the steps: To continue the installation, you can go back to step 3 and select “Resume all.”Lastly, you can cancel a download if you’ve seen it stuck for too long, and try again after you finish our troubleshooting.
Suspend Your Games (Xbox Series Only)
Xbox Series S and Series X users can speed up the download speeds by suspending the games. It’s a feature that works alongside the Quick Resume option, which allows you to go back to the exact moment you let off a game. Here’s how:The option can boost your download speeds. Moreover, if the game supports Quiockj Resume, you can go back to the exact position the next time you load it.
Keep Your Games Up to Date
The next step is ensuring your console has automatic updates. It will help you download things faster, especially if you enable Sleep Mode downloads.
Enable Downloads While on Sleep Mode
The Sleep Mode puts your Xbox on standby. There’re two types of Sleep Modes:
The Power Mode saves energy, but it takes longer to power on. The Instant-on mode can switch the console faster, and it can download games while your console is resting.
The option allows your console to download content while you’re not using it. So, it will work as fast as it can, save power, and work under less heat and hardware stress. Here’s how to enable Instant-on mode, plus downloads on rest mode: These settings will allow your Xbox to continue downloading games while on Sleep Mode. Then, simply pressing the power button on the console will put it on Standby.
Add a Static IP and a Public DNS address
The next step is tweaking your network settings to add a public DNS, and a Static IP address.
A Static IP Address is a fixed number that won’t change every time your console logs on the Wi-Fi. This is not necessary if you’re using an ethernet connectionA public DNS address is a gateway address companies like Google share to improve internet connection worldwide.
Here’re the instructionsIf it doesn’t work, try adding 100 to the last IP digit instead. In fact, you can keep playing around the last digit with a similar approach. The idea is the number doesn’t collide with any other device in your home. The IP address is the same for all devices on the same web, but only the last digit changes.
Check That You Have the Minimum Download Speed
As prior information, here’s the download speed on Xbox you can expect, according to Microsoft: Your download speed should be, at least, 1.5Mb/s for a proper experience. So, first, you should test your network to see its speed:
Physically Improve Your Download Speed
Here’re the things you can do to further improve your download speeds:
Don’t stream games while downloading.Reset your Xbox and your router if you’re experiencing random disconnections.Turn off your smartphone’s and computer’s Wi-Fi, and as much Wi-Fis as possible.Put your Xbox as close to the router as you can.Use a 5.0 GHz frequency band on your Wi-Fi if possible. Some routers have a switch to change 2.4GHz to 5.0GHz frequency. You would have to connect again to the network if you change the band.Connect your Xbox to the router via an ethernet cable if possible (it can improve your speed by around 20%).Check for other internet service providers and plans every month, to see if there’s a better broadband plan for your household you can afford.
If you’re still below or around the threshold, there’s not much you can do other than change your internet service provider or upgrade your plan.
