Nintendo Switch Download Speed Slow? Here's How To Fix It

Downloading stuff faster is good and all, but would this also affect online play? Such as reducing laggy moments in Splatoon (assuming the opponents have a stable connection as well of course and possibly used the same trick)?

"So simple it's CRIMINAL"

Smooth Criminal ?

I'll have to do this after work, thanks for the tip

Makes me wonder why 1500 isn't the default setting. I'm almost worried that there may be some undesirable side effect from tinkering with this setting.

This is good to know as I download the giant LA Noire extra file.

After firmware update 2.3 or 3.0 can't remember exactly what it was but after that it changed channels and improved range and speed quite a bit Iv just been glad of that and didn't want to tinker lol because it really poor at launch ( range anywhere)

So what if I make it 3000?

Why hasn't this info been released sooner?

It still depends on how your ISP set up your network or your router if it can actually "do" the MTU you provided (you will need math essentially lol). I won't dive into the technical jumbo but basically you can't just put any number. Having said that, even though in Nintendo's support pages they actually recommend using 1500 MTU with Google's public DNS addresses, there are a lot of people having better performance using a lower MTU value.

What made mine reliable was changing my WiFi channels, both 2.4ghz and 5ghz. I experimented and checked what worked.

@gcunit Usually in order to take advantage of a larger MTU, more network components between you and the server you're communicating need to support it. 1500 is considered to be a standard, so that's why it will show an improvement.

While increasing it to 3000 might not have any negative side effects, it is not likely to show better results.

@thesilverbrick
It seems some routers does not support more than that.

@Anti-Matter 👌

@Equinox Normally it won't just as long as you keep it at the recommended range and what your network appliance actually supports. Even if you can set a higher value on your Switch but your router/modem supports only up to 1400 or 1500 then you're stuck with that number.

@Axlroselm I guess that makes sense, then. Ill try it out and see what happens. Thanks.

Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) determines network packet size. In the UK most broadband providers default to 1500 or if on VDSL fibre 1492. Going above this limit will cause issues (some networks may not route these packets if jumbo MTU support is not enabled) and going too low will result in packet fragmentation reducing performance. I guess Nintendo went for 1400 to ensure maximum compatibility with online matchmaking and lobbies.

The internet on my Switch is much, much slower than on any other device in my house, it really annoys me. Hope this improves it!

My Wii - not Wii U, Wii - Ethernet adapter works just fine.

I'll give Ntinedo credit where it's due though, WiFi on Switch is handled so much better than 3DS and Wii U. Heck 3DS barely even had usable WiFi, 3 save slots is a bad joke. The 6 on Wii U worked but when 1 stopped working changing them was a pain. Switch works more like a modern portable device, so that's very nice.

I'm still keeping it plugged in though.

My Wii U and 3DS connect online much more reliably than my Switch, so I'll probably look into this myself and maybe compare the 3 devices to see if I can find out why this is happening.

Does anyone else have any recommendations that would help my Switch connect better? Wii U is literally sitting right next to the Switch. When the Wii U has a full signal the Switch barely gets 1 bar.

The only saving grace is that I can take the Switch out and play online in other rooms. It's just strange that it won't connect in the same room every other device I own can connect in.

Thanks but my internet setting is good as it is. I usually don't download large retail games anyways so this won't be a hassle for me. Recently downloaded Sonic Mania and it only took no more than 8 minutes so that works.

@-DG
Try using an ethernet cable while docked.

Interesting. Can’t help but wonder why it’s set low out the gate.

How do you check if you have a good connection with your rooter?

Oh, if only the weak Wi-Fi was my problem! I‘ve been on and off working to fix the fact the router I received at the beginning of August pretty much blocks all online gaming and that not even since I got it but since the beginning of October, from one hour to the next. Sure, portforwarding solves that but I‘ll have to activate and deactivate some of those depending on the console I wanna play online on. Also, I think of this as only a temporary solution as it still doesn‘t tackle the root of the issue nor the fact that this happened so suddenly.
So I called up the IP today, good old Vodafone, got a FritzBox from their Kabel Deutschland subsidiary for the better part of a decade. Luckily I got a guy who at least knew how I was feeling as he owned a PlayStation, too. Pretty much told me he‘d send a new IPv4 address, which solved nothing, and told me to call up AVM, the company producing my router, saying the issue was in the configuration of my router. But I changed zero things with it between installing it and the moment it decided to just do away with online gaming.
Luckily, portforwarding has worked on Switch for more than a month now and it seems to do so on Xbox, too, but I don‘t frequent there too often.

Anyway, sorry for all the ranting and rambling, this guide kinda provoked me to let all the frustration out, which in itself is always good thing, I‘d say.

@thesilverbrick Don’t worry Steam does the same thing. I guess it’s just set to that so that it doesn’t by default slow down other people who are using your internet. If there was a side affect I’m sure it would tell you before you hit save.

my switch is connecting with LAN

I have tried the tip but it doesn't seem to improve the speed.
i have noticed a decrease by moving the setting up to 1500

@JHDK You'll probably be the only one downloading that LA Noire file on the entire planet. So you'll do fine.

@duducamargo I'd imagine that setting it to 3000 would result in a large amount of fragmentation as the router breaks those packets down for re-assembly on the other side. Unless do not fragment is set, in which case the connection would drop entirely. I would definitely not set it above 1500 as that is the most compatible setting. And for DSL connections 1492 is safer, albeit better to set it on your router rather than the internal nodes.

@Agent721 compatibility reasons, most likely

So...over 9000?

@Zyph math not maths

@frogopus I'm not sure... I'd have to check when I get home. I'm definitely going to mess with the settings tonight and I'll post here if I find anything that works since I'm sure others are having this problem too...

@RodSD64 Unfortunately the router is on the second floor and I'm on the third. I tried using an ethernet canle to connect the Switch to my signal booster, but that did nothing, lol.

@DESS-M-8 Unless you're in the UK

I haven’t noticed slow download speeds on my Switch. It crushes my launch PS4(stupid Sony and no 5ghz band). I have noticed if I don’t hold the Joy Cons directly in line of sight with the console they will drop the signal. Oddly for me it is always the right not the left though.

Faster download speeds can never hurt so I may change this setting for the heck of it though my downloads are usually pretty quick since we have relatively fast internet in the first place.

DSL uses 1492 not 1500 so cable should do this however DSL should max at 1492. Just to correct the general statement.

What annoys me is that I can stream films and tv series no probs but cannot watch a trailer on the eshop due to it being so choppy.

I heard if my Micro SD Card is Extreme type ( Let's say Micro SD Card SanDisk Extreme 64 GB) will make Download time quicker. Is that true ?

Considering PPPoE defaults to 1492, a default of 1400 makes sense. Setting it to 1500 in this instance would cause worse performance due to fragmentation.

@FinalFrog

Thanks! Got it!

@GC-161 mines been downloading since I got out of work.

@Anti-Matter
No, that's not true. For one, Switch doesn't support higher speed cards anyways so it's a waste to have one, and for two, SD card will have nothing to do with download speed.

I appreciate this tip! Thanks!

Thanks, nice tip.
I don't get the "so simple it's criminal".

This one goes to 11.

Interesting.

@JaxonH Actually running Switch games from micro SD cards is FASTER than running from actual retail cards.

And it really helps if you use Sandisk cards.

Higher read/write speeds always help. And LA Noire requires at least a 60MB read speed for it's MicroSD download.

@simbakitty @GC-161
Nope. Not true (not on Switch anyways)

Tests actually show it runs a fraction of a second slower in some cases.

@simbakitty
You are right about the 60 read speed requirement for LA Noire. I was specifically referring to faster speeds loading faster or running faster. Just to clarify.

I remember them doing speed tests and the carts and SD cards were basically within a second or two of each other, and that was on long Zelda loading screens. I know the better class high-speed cards on Switch just aren't supported and that's probably why. Right now (depending on the game) I think it's a toss up as to whether the cartridge or SD card is faster. You could spend a fortune on a blazing fast card and only get maybe a second or two trimmed off.

The Switch internal storage, on the other hand, is blazing fast. A significant difference. Shame we couldn't get a 256gb Switch model just for those supersonic speeds on more digital games.

@DESS-M-8 deliberately and as a joke.

Is there some evidence the internal game loading is faster than card or the fastest SD? Switch cards definitely have a lot more pins than standard micros so it could in theory send more data faster than SD, even at lower actual clock rates, by taking advantage of parallel connections.

@JaxonH "Tests actually show it runs a fraction of a second slower in some cases."

Nope. Tests showed micro sd cards are faster than retail cards.

In fact, micro sd cards could be even faster had Nintendo not capped the speeds of said cards on the Switch.

@GC-161
Go watch the digital foundry video.

Both a normal card and a high-speed card and a cartridge are all within one second of each other.

There's practically no advantage. And yes, they could have been faster had Nintendo not capped the speeds, but they did cap the speeds- which is exactly why I say there's no advantage. Higher class cards do nothing extra.

My download speeds were painfully slow when I first got my Switch back at the beginning of April, and I would lose connection a lot as it had the weakest reception of any device I own. But now, it seems to be perform better and I haven't adjusted any settings to anything. Even downloading big files like NBA 2K18 worked well and efficently.

Be careful folks, some Network internet providers require 1492 or less

@GoatWrench13 this is so weird. I use my Joy cons about 22 foot from the docked console, no line of sight, and mine have worked perfectly.

Wondering? Is yours a launch console? I got mine last week.

I wonder how many minor hardware revisions have been made?

@FinalFrog Time to brush up on your networking:

https://www.networkworld.com/article/2224654/cisco-subnet/mtu-size-issues.html

Basically, MTU is a case of people needing to not fiddle with knobs and buttons they don't understand.

@JaxonH Pfft! Saw those already. That's why I've been saying what I said before.

Their tests say micro sd cards are faster than retail cards. And more importantly, they could be even faster if Ninty had not included an artificial cap to prevent taking any advantage from using speedy micro sd cards.

Perhaps to prevent their retail cards from looking like trash in comparison.

Even right in front of my router I only get two bars, eshop videos are choppy & pretty unwatchable.
On a wireless Sky connection I've got speeds of 3.8mbps/843kbps so I definitely need to get a better setup but don't know how! Router is a whole room away from my TV/switch. Wii U/3DS & other devices work a lot better in same location 😖

@JaxonH

Yeah, I read that Tegra X1 uses eMMC 5.1-controller, wich gives support for top read-speeds at 400MB/s. Thats like10 times the speed of stock PS4/Xone HDD:s. Not sure if eMMC got faster or slower access than a mechanic HDD. Id guess its faster.

I noticed it doesn’t pick up wifi signal as strong as my phone in the same spot... is 1500 max? What happens if you do 2000?

So 1500 is the max standard MTU Packet size on none gigabit Jumbo frame networks. The reason it is set at 1400 is tunneling may be used within the multiplay environment which adds an extra 4 bytes to each packet. This means each packet is split into two and then requires reassembly. This would add lag with multiplayer. While it is not sure that tunneling is used it is common within distributed platforms, Defaulting to a uncommon 1400 is due to a reason. Changing this setting does nothing, and has nothing to do with WiFi signal strength, just packet size. As someone who contributed to the network stack used in all modern OS I would strongly suggest if you play any multiplayer NOT to change this above 1476 if at all

I won't be messing with it - my problem isn't download speed, it's strength of signal. My Switch has by far the worst reception of any of my WiFi devices, so frustrating!

@DizzyDee81 1500 is the max workable

Downloads have been fast for me, up until yesterday when I had to download LA Noire files. An hour to download 14gb or whatever it is with a dl speed that reaches over 100mbps is crazy...

@GC-161
Well, their retail cards are fine, I think. They're all the same speed within a second or so. That's margin of error small there.

The faster SD cards are way more expensive. If carts were to be super fast they'd be even more expensive, and we all know they're already expensive enough

The giant LA Noire data took just over an hour to download on a wired connection yesterday. I wouldn't have wanted to do that over wifi. Like others here, I fully recommend the tiny investment in a USB ethernet adapter for your docked switch.

No way I'm changing this setting.

@frogopus Hmm... I think you might have solved the mystery at my house here. Even my Wii U has been dropping lately. It still gets a better connection than the Switch, but one thing that has changed, is that my roommates did get a couple of baby monitors, and they are both on the same floor as the router. I'll bet those extra devices are causing a lot of issues with the internet in the house.

I will try that. Even with my lowly 3MB/s internet speed, I've barely had a hitch, but maybe 2 times while streaming live Hulu I saw a brief .5 second stall. Overall my download times and online gaming experiences have been good, surprisingly. Question for NL or anyone else-- Does setting the MTU to 1500 increase Switch power consumption for online experiences? Can anyone confirm/deny that?

@Danrenfroe2016

@Danrenfroe2016 I just bought mine about 2 weeks ago. Oddly though it only happens when I use the Joy Cons split. If they’re on the grip I don’t notice any problems. I’m guessing it could have something to do with how I position them when they’ separate.

@GoatWrench13 must be a bad antenna or interference. Do you live in an apartment or building crowded with WiFi?

@frogopus New roommates... If only I could be so lucky... lol. I'll probably just have to get a router of my own.

@thesilverbrick I think it's probably to do with something like not the device to hog your overall bandwidth if you have wifi running running on other devices/computer/netflixing, while your JUST downloading stuff on your Switch. Like La Noire, lol. 2hrs 15 min for me. Still weird. Or maybe it conserves on battery?

@GoatWrench13 It's not super obvious/no prompts but go into your system menu and update your controllers while attached to the system. I haven't had this issue in awhile, after 2 different updates.

@Dang69 I’m sure it’s fine, but I’ll wait a couple weeks and see if anyone reports any issues before I try it myself. My Switch runs plenty fast as it is.

@Danrenfroe2016 Could be interference. My PS4 and Wii U are both right beside it.

Doing the test connection, I gained about a MB. So I guess it's working.

@datamonkey ?

But @AlexOlney you already posted this last year on November 17th!

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/11/guide_give_your_switchs_download_speed_a_little_boost_by_changing_the_mtu

Edit: Huh, apparently this article just an update of the old one. But the content is the same!

I've done this. Sure it helped a bit but don't expect some crazy difference.

@Anti-Matter 'you been hit by, you've been struck by...'

I did this back in November when it was reported... I don't have the data to tell if it helped significantly or not, but it makes sense that it would.

Has anyone had any issues with MTU 1500 while playing online?

My Atari 2600 doesn't connect to the internet at all. Can anybody help me please?

This is very much a case of your mileage may vary, for me it made little to no difference. What's more likely to make a very noticeable difference is moving your Switch from a 2.4Ghz wifi network to a 5Ghz network, so long as you have the kit.

“Why don’t you just make 10 louder?”
“Yeah but this amp goes up to 11”

Something like that

Knowing Nintendo this will cause the Switch to brick.

@AlexOlney This is old information. I believe NL actually already covered it last year. Unfortunately, I haven't seen it help in any meaningful way. More importantly I've seen (across more than one Switch) that even in wired transfers the Switch is catastrophically slow to download with frequent "connection loss" interruptions. My PS4 Pro can pull games at 250Mb/s wired (but often drops to like 15Mb/s becuase PSN.) Switch, even wired, runs at 1-3Mb/s with frequent stalls. It's not just the WiFi being slow, it's the actual data I/O (or iffy network drivers...with nVidia I'd believe that in an instant.)

You know that "download patch from other local Switches" feature they activated quietly in a patch after launch? That seems to be just as slow as internet transfers. It's the I/O

Say, is there an article about boosting the Switch's Wifi? If so, that would really help.

every console somebody is gonna say set the DNS to the public google ones and change the MTU to 1500

5g vs 2.4g band is all I changed and its night and day (which is expected)

The only thing is sometimes when mine is really slow I restart the Swtich and its back to the expected speeds

@abbyhitter it has. It's old news. Its a repost from nov last year https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/05/guide_nintendo_switch_download_speed_slow_heres_how_to_fix_it
Word for word

@rjejr Being wired is absolutely an advantage, but keep in mind your Wii adapter is limited. If you plan on doing online gaming in the future, an ethernet adapter supporting gigabit speeds (such as the ones made for the switch) will improve performance tenfold - and give considerably better connections in p2p situations, head to head games.

@KIRO Love the spinal tap reference, so true

Dual-Band router. That did the trick for me. My Switch kept timing out until I put it on my 5ghz network. Meanwhile my PS3 will only connect to the 2.4ghz one.

5ghz seems to be a solution. Especially if you live in a crowded neighborhood with a lot of neighbors still running 2.4ghz.

Who cares, I use ethernet mainly.

The only issue with the Wifi I have noticed is that it gets sketchy if there is more than one wall between it and the router. When I have it in the same room as the router my download speed is excellent.

@LemonSlice Who cares? Perhaps people who don't use ethernet...

Ummmmmm....why is there an old article on the from page? Are we bumping dead articles now? We can do that?

@Heavyarms55 Sad people then, I suppose.

I think some DSL(ew) providers require 1400MTU, but otherwise, that's an odd default setting.

This I will tell You,my Wi Fi will be ready to download Wolfenstein 2 the new colossues and Dark Souls Remastered when it comes out which I know the Testnetwork is due out sometime soon for it it defiantly is a good year for the Big N.

Ha! I remember the days when you used to have to wait for 2 hours to download a song. Good old dial up

Ha! I remember the days when you used to have to wait for 2 hours to download a song. Good old dial up

@Zscout1288 Yeah, my comment was from November last year. Wondering why you're responding to me on such an old article.

@abbyhitter oops, I'm going to eat my foot now.... I mean all hail Nintendo!
(Responding to a old article because Nintendo Life put it on the front page, I thought it was a repost instead of a bump)

@Zscout1288 Oh, lol. That is odd of them to bump up this article like that.

Since this old article has been bumped/reposted, I'll repost my key points:

1) Considering PPPoE defaults to 1492, a default of 1400 makes sense. Setting it to 1500 in this instance would cause worse performance due to fragmentation.

2) Required reading: https://www.networkworld.com/article/2224654/cisco-subnet/mtu-size-issues.html

3) So you crank this to 1500 and MAYBE get better performance on YOUR network, but then you take your Switch elsewhere and an MTU of 1500 causes network performance to tank.

There are VERY good reasons this is set to 1400. Don't mess with settings you don't understand. Reading this NL article isn't "understanding"... it's deceiving.

Thx for this! Originally, a game I wanted to download would take over 12 hours, but now it downloads in just 40 minutes!

I was downloading animal crossing and had a download time of 26 hours. After leaving it to download over night, it only had 13 more hours left. Tried this simple hack, and it took the download time to 6 hours! Thank you so much!

This helped so much! Thanks!

@gcunit why not over 3000?

Thanks my download went from 59 minutes left to 36 hours left😺 And just when it was almost done because it’s been downloading for 3 days🤚

Just found this post and THANK YOU!! I was attempting to download a game update to my son's Switch Lite which is always annoying. Our wi-fi on any other device in my home is usually around 400 mbps on 2.4gHz and close to 1Gb on 5G. However, downloading anything on the Switch lite takes forever and the speeds usually register around 10-20mbps if we're lucky. This has been very frustrating. I just changed the internet settings to 1500 and the download went from 46 minutes remaining to 4 minutes remaining and finished in less than that time. Thank you SO much!!

My Super Smash Bros. Ultimate download says it’s going to take 8 hours hopefully this helps