How To Increase Download Speed On Xbox? 7 Easy Fixes

Even if your broadband connection is slow, there’re ways to increase download speed on Xbox. Mostly, fixes are about managing your Xbox’s network settings.

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 usual
• The download or update progress bar doesn’t advance forward
• Your 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:

1. Press the Xbox button on your controller
2. Highlight the app or game you want to close on the sidebar
3. Press the Controller’s menu button
4. Select Quit 

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: 

1. Press the Xbox button on your controller to open the guide
2. Go to My games & apps
3. Select Manage
4. Select Queue
5. Select Pause All

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:

1. As you play a game on the console, press the gamepad’s Xbox button
2. Select My games & apps
3. Select Manage
4. Select Queue
5. As the Xbox knows you’re in a game, it will give you the option to suspend it. Select “Suspend my game.” 

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. 

1. Press the Xbox button on your controller
2. Go to Profile & system
3. Select Settings
4. Select System
5. Select Updates on the right panel
6. Check “Keep my console up to date” and “Keep my games & apps up to date.” 

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: 

1. Press the Xbox button on your controller
2. Navigate to Profile & system
3. Select System
4. Select Settings
5. Go to the General tab
6. On the right, select Sleep mode & Startup (you may see it as Power mode & startup as well)
7. Under Power Mode, choose Instant-On (you may see it as Standby as well)
8. Uncheck both options on the right: “Wake up Xbox by saying “Xbox On,” and “When Xbox is off, turn off storage.”

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 connection
• A public DNS address is a gateway address companies like Google share to improve internet connection worldwide. 

Here’re the instructions

1. Press the Xbox button on your controller
2. Select Profile & system
3. Select Settings
4. Go to the General tab
5. Select Network Settings on the right
6. Select Advanced Settings 
7. Write down the following information: IP Address, Subnet Mask, Gateway Address. It’s under IPv4 (I erased my info).
8. Select IP Settings on the left
9. Select Manual
10. Input the same IP address you wrote, but add 50 to the last digit. For instance, if the original is 196.160.0.1, it would look like this: 196.160.0.51. 
11. Press enter to continue towards the Subnet Mask number. Add the same one you wrote.
12. Press continue to go to the Gateway number, and add the same you wrote.
13. Go back and select DNS settings
14. Select Manual
15. Use a free DNS. We chose Cloudflare’s option, as it often works great with the Xbox. 
    • Primary: 1.0.0.1
    • Secondary: 1.1.1.1 
16. Test the connection 

If 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:

1. Press your gamepad’s Xbox button
2. Go to Profile & system
3. Go to Settings
4. Select General
5. Select Network Settings
6. Select Test network speed
7. Check the results and take note of your download 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.