Does it sometimes seem like it takes forever for your Xbox One to download files? Do you often check the progress bar on your downloads and see that it has hardly moved? Have you ever wondered how to make your Xbox One download faster? Well, you are in luck; we have the solution you need!
Your Xbox downloads may be slow due to slow internet speeds, heavy traffic on the network, or a faulty connection. Consider using an Ethernet cable instead of WiFi, and try delaying some downloads if you’ve got multiple ones active at the same time.
There are a handful of reasons why your download speeds might be especially slow. Let’s take a look at those reasons and how to address them so that you can boost your download speeds and get to the gameplay.
Why Is Your Xbox Downloading So Slowly?
Here are some possible reasons why your Xbox One (on Amazon) is downloading at such a slow pace:
Downloading Too Many Files at the Same Time
Your Xbox console is a multitasking device that allows you to play games, download movies, music, or games, and even stream. However, when you download too many files at once, the result is that the download speed will reduce.
You might not be downloading many games; it might just be that you’re carrying out many activities that require the internet. The more activities, the slower the internet speeds are, and the more time it takes to download your files.
Slow Internet Speed
Internet speeds can be deceiving. You should check the internet connection and verify that the pace is fast enough.
WiFi routers, most especially, are known to be quite slow. This is because internet speed from WiFi routers decreases the farther away the connected device is. Furthermore, the browsing speed from the WiFi router differs from device to device. In most cases, the advertised rate is usually not what you get in reality.
Therefore, if you notice slow download speeds, it might be that your internet speed is slow.
Bad Connectivity
This point is somewhat related to the previous one. Your download speed might be slow because there’s something wrong with your internet connectivity.
Once in a while, ISP companies experience technical problems from their end, and the connectivity deteriorates. When this happens, you can’t do anything on the internet properly. That includes downloading games.
If your internet connectivity is bad, you could spend hours downloading a file that should take minutes at most.
Too Many Devices Connect to the WiFi
If there are many devices connected to the WiFi router providing the connection to your Xbox console, there is a higher chance that the downloads will progress slowly.
The number of devices connected to the router affects data transfer. For example, you should expect slower speeds when you connect all your devices simultaneously to the same internet source.
You should also consider changing the wireless network you’re using to a different wireless band. If most of your devices are on your router’s 2.4GHz wireless band, consider swapping to the 5GHZ band if available. Check out our full guide on connecting your Xbox to a 5GHz network here.
Heavy Traffic
Heavy traffic on your network is another reason your downloads might lag. An example is when many people are downloading a particular game or file at the same time. In that case, there’s an increase in the network load on the website.
The increased network load on the site leads to the download speed on that particular game dropping.
Game websites often experience heavy traffic when a new installment drops or there’s an update. As soon as this update becomes available, everyone rushes to download it. The heavy traffic on the website leads to slow download speeds.
How Can You Make Your Xbox One Download Faster?
Close Some Games and Apps
Like we said before, your Xbox console excels at multitasking. However, when you’re downloading big games and you notice the download speed is slow, other games and apps that might be causing the lag.
Closing these games or apps allows your Xbox console to work optimally and improves the download speed.
If you don’t know how to close other games or apps, here’s how you can do it.
- Press the Xbox button.
- Go to the game or app you want to close. The list will appear on the right-hand side.
- Click on the Menu tab.
- Scroll until you get to Quit and click on it.
Suspend Any Running Games
If you don’t want to close the game you’re playing, another option is to minimize it and allow the download to end before continuing your game.
To pause the game, all you have to do is:
- Press the Xbox logo on your controller to go to the Guide menu.
- Navigate to the My Games and Apps option using the left analog stick. Click on it.
- Then click on Select All.
- On the left-hand side of the screen, click on Manage.
- From there, move to Queue, and select it.
- There’s a message that you are currently playing a game, and you will be asked if you want to suspend it. Click on Suspend.
Your game is then paused until the game finishes downloading.
Reduce the Number of Devices Connected to Your Router or Hotspot
Not all WiFi routers are affected by being connected to many devices, but if you notice that your internet speed drops as the number of connected devices increases, you need to reduce the workload.
Reducing the number of devices will increase the internet and download speeds.
Reboot Your Router
There are times when slow download speeds have nothing to do with your console. The problem might be coming from your WiFi router or your internet provider. If that’s the case, rebooting your router could help.
To reboot your router, unplug it from the wall. Then you wait for a few seconds before plugging it back. When the router connects again, the internet speed should improve.
If this solves your problem but it starts happening again, have a look at our post on how you can set your router to reboot on a fixed routine so that this error is cleared without you having to do anything.
Restart Your Xbox Console
If you think the problem is with your Xbox console, you can restart it. Restarting your Xbox console could also help correct any connectivity issues you might have.
Here’s how to restart your device.
- Press the Xbox symbol to go to Guide.
- Navigate to Profile and System Menu using the left analog stick.
- Go to Power, and click on it.
- From the options, click on Restart Console.
- Confirm your option, and your device will turn off and on again.
Pause Other Downloads
One of the reasons for slow download speeds is downloading many games at once. Pausing the downloads of some games while allowing other downloads to proceed will increase download speeds. Here’s what you have to do to pause some of the games you want to download:
- Press the Xbox icon on your controller to go to the Guide.
- Navigate to My Games and Apps using the left analog stick and select it.
- Go to See All and select it.
- On the left side of your screen, scroll to Queue and click on it.
- Go to the downloading game you want to pause, and click on it.
- From the next menu, select pause.
You can repeat these steps to pause more games. You can resume the one you paused earlier when the other games download.
Use an Ethernet Cable
Accessing the internet on your Xbox console via an Ethernet cable is better than a not-so-reliable WiFi connection. With the Ethernet cable, your console gets all the attention.
Check the Network Connection on Your Console
Checking your connection or download speed allows you to determine the accurate download speed in real-time. It also shows you if there’s a problem with your network connection.
Here’s how to check your network connection.
- Press the Xbox button on your controller to go to Guide.
- From there, navigate to Profile and System.
- Click on Settings. From the options, click on General.
- Various options will appear. Click on Network Settings.
- Then click on Test Network Connection.
With the new information, you can decide to pause the download, cancel and restart, or change your internet connection.
Does Turning Off Your Xbox One Make Downloads Faster?
Turning off your Xbox definitely makes your downloads faster. But when we say turn off, we don’t mean shutting down the console. Xbox One has a feature that allows your console to download games while it’s turned off. This feature is called Instant-On mode.
Instant-On mode is like putting your Xbox console on sleep mode, but you can turn it back on instantly. In this mode, all other processes except downloading are suspended. The temporary suspension of other activities increases the download speed and makes downloading faster.
To turn on the Instant-On mode, take the following steps.
- From your controller, press the Guide button.
- Choose the Settings option, and go to Power and Startup.
- Check through the Power options until you find Power Mode. There are two options, Instant-On Mode and Energy Saving Mode.
- Click on the Instant-On Mode to activate.
Conclusion
No one enjoys poor download speeds, especially if it’s while you’re trying to complete something important. If you notice that your Xbox One is unusually slow in downloading that game or that large file, follow the above steps and see a marked improvement.
There are times when the problem isn’t with your console or internet connection. If the slow download speeds are due to heavy traffic on the website you’re downloading from, the best thing to do is wait for an off-peak period before downloading.