Consoles, laptops, and PCs have shrunk over the years, but the opposite is true for the size of games. While indie games still take up little space on hard drives and SSDs, triple A's like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War can take up to 136 GB of space on your console..
Storage isn't much of an issue considering that external hard drives exist, but getting the games you want on your system may take longer than you might imagine with an average internet connection.
Each district has different connection speeds. Knowing all the details of your connection quality is essential to seeing if you are getting the speed promised. Find download speeds by installing games and do speed tests to get all the information you need. S Series owners will need to make sure they get the best connection speed, as reducing the size of games on discs won't be an option for them..
If you feel like your console is taking longer than expected to download the games, there are several corrective steps you can take to get rid of this issue. In the event that none of the steps work, you will then have to contact your supplier's support to hope to find a solution.
Here's everything you can do to get your Xbox Series X or S to the download speed your provider promised..
Check the information of your internet package
While players who have to pay their bills may know all the details of their package, younger players who do not have this concern might not know them.
Go to your PC, laptop or mobile and do a speed test near your router to gauge the potential of your connection. If you see values close to those promised but your Xbox Series X / S does not succeed, you will have to look for a solution.
Connect your Xbox Series X / S to the router with an Ethernet cable
Image via David Anders Using Wi-Fi is the easiest, but that doesn't mean the connection will be strong enough in every room to perform at its best.
The farther away you are from the router, the worse your connection will become. If you live in a house with thick walls, signal quality will suffer drastically between rooms, which will reduce your connection speed.
Try to connect your Xbox Series X / S to your router with an Ethernet cable . If you get more speed and stability, Wi-Fi was the problem.
Place the Xbox Series X / S closer to the router
Using a cable may not be an option if it requires drilling through walls. If you want to avoid having to manage a 10 meter cable, you will need to place the Xbox Series X / S and the router closer. You can do this by moving the console, the router, or both.
Although it is impossible to achieve the quality offered by the wired connection while being on Wi-Fi, bringing the console and the router closer can still improve the download speed. If that fixes the problem but you can't keep both pieces in place, it might be worth investing in a better router.
Reset your router
If other devices in your home around your console have a slow connection, it could be coming from the router. While providers can make your connection as stable as possible, there might be server errors that reduce your connection speed.
The best way to correct this problem is to reset the router. This will restart the connection from scratch and establish a new path to the provider. It is also recommended that you reset the Xbox Series X / S and any affected electrical device to make sure you start from scratch.
Make sure the connection is not blocked
Anyone who lives with a roommate or family knows that someone watching a movie in 4K streaming will cause connection lag and loss of bandwidth. Routers are created to prioritize the most urgent download attempts, and this can seriously affect your download speeds on Xbox Series X / S.
You can start by asking questions of people suspected of taking up bandwidth. If your issues are resolved once they stop, that means the person was just taking all the bandwidth. Since asking them to stop every time doesn't seem ideal, it is possible to limit their available bandwidth or kick them out of your router. More radical.
This process will be different for each brand of router. The user manual should explain it well. You will need to find their device in the user interface and insert a bandwidth limit on their connection. This will prevent the router from dedicating all of its resources to others and allow you to keep the majority of the bandwidth.
On the other hand, bandwidth consumers are not always people; it can be background tasks. Check that your phone doesn't have consuming apps or something in the background.
If you don't know what you're doing, just turn off the Wi-Fi on any devices in your home other than the Xbox; this will ensure you have all the bandwidth.
Make sure you haven't started any other downloads on the Xbox, or restart it to verify that nothing is holding back your speed.
Keep your Xbox Series X / S up to date
Each Xbox update brings stability improvements to your system, and outdated system files could be the cause of average connection speed.
- Press the Xbox button to access the main menu.
- Access the options through the Profile and System menu.
- In the options, tap Updates.
- You will be able to select an update if one is available, but if not, that is not the problem.
Consider an improvement in internet subscription
If you don't have a basic fast connection, none of the above methods will improve it; the main way to get a better connection would therefore be to purchase a better subscription, but this may not always be the case.
Before thinking about an improvement, it is best to find out about the provider to see if it would really help with the quality of service where you are. If the answer is no, paying more will not solve anything.
But it can inspire you to take the necessary steps to improve your home's internet infrastructure. Most providers do this for free on demand, but a professional could also do this. Better cables offering internet will allow for better connection quality.
In any case, if the router is not compatible with your connection type, a provider can assign you a different one, or you can buy one that better suits your needs online.
In some cases, slow download speeds can be caused by overloaded servers. Trying to download a game on its launch day is the best example of this, and your speed should return to normal when the servers resume.
There's nothing you can do to try and fix a server issue, but restarting the router and Xbox can still help a bit.