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Slow wi fi connection on Switch

Amory

Amory

Member
My GF bought me a Switch for my birthday last week, and though I'm loving it so far, the WiFi connection is so much slower than on my other devices. Speed test on my phone and tablet show 35 MBPS down, which is nothing earth shattering but it should be enough to play online

But on Switch, the connection test only shows about 14 down / 10 up and I'm frequently dropping connection during online games. Plus downloading software obviously takes forever.

Is this a known problem with the hardware? Anyone else experiencing a significantly slower connection than on other devices? Anything I can do about it?
 
Switch wi-fi is fuckin' trash, I can't even see the access point like 20 feet away from the router in my living room while every other device gets full bars. Basically unusable unless I'm sitting right next to it. And the speed caps way lower than my other devices.
 
My brother had this issue with his router which was a EA6350 by Linksys. I switched him over to his 5GHz connection and he was getting 20+ Mbps download and ~9 Mbps for his upload during the speed test we did. If your router has dual band try using the 5GHz connection instead.
 
alf717 said:
My brother had this issue with his router which was a EA6350 by Linksys. I switched him over to his 5GHz connection and he was getting 20+ Mbps download and ~9 Mbps for his upload during the speed test we did. If your router has dual band try using the 5GHz connection instead.
Click to expand...

Thing is, the Switch can only get 3 bars of 5GHz wifi in like...a 20 foot range. And that's not an exaggeration, at least in my case.

As much as I love the system, the wifi is absolute trash. Pretty unreal how quick it goes to 2 bars even when the router is in sight.
 
In my case it seems to strictly be about range, because the router is 5Ghz and every other device in the same room as the Switch gets decent speeds.

Is it possible for you to move the router closer, or the Switch closer to the router?
 
Conor_Fool said:
Thing is, the Switch can only get 3 bars of 5GHz wifi in like...a 20 foot range. And that's not an exaggeration, at least in my case.

As much as I love the system, the wifi is absolute trash. Pretty unreal how quick it goes to 2 bars even when the router is in sight.
Click to expand...

I didn't test the range since he was somewhat close to his router but that does sound right since 5GHz has a shorter range that 2.4GHz.
 
alf717 said:
I didn't test the range since he was somewhat close to his router but that does sound right since 5GHz has a shorter range that 2.4GHz.
Click to expand...

Most def. It's just that the Switch has such horrible wifi to begin with that 5GHz connection has a laughably small range.
 
I had problems with disconects in Splatoon for a long time. This eventually fixed it:

1. Set MTU to 1500
2. Set 5 GHz to highest channel
3. Set QoS with > 1 MB/s rate and the switch prioritized
4. Set DNS to google DNS (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4)
 
yeah, Switch's WiFi connection is quite bad. I bought a USB / Ethernet LAN adapter (there a few ones compatible with the Switch, no need to buy the official one), used a long Ethernet cable to connect it to my router and everything's good :P

51hxsK3%2BJNL._SL1001_.jpg
Click to expand...
 
The wifi sucks. So much so that I had to go out and buy a dual band router. Once I put it on the 5 ghz band it's been pretty solid. Still, I've never had to do that with any of my other devices.
 
Conkerkid11 said:
PS4 doesn't even support 5ghz. Dunno how people can call Switch the worst.


This has been my experience as well.
Click to expand...
Slim and Pro PS4's supports 5ghz/ac
But even the old fat PS4 WiFi at 2.4ghz seems better than Switch wifi atm dunno why it's so wonky
 
My Switch hasn't dropped below full signal when playing at home since launch, my router is on a different floor.
 
A lot of people have Wifi problems but like some other people I've never had issues. Download speeds are very high and I rarely have issues in online play.
 
Serenitynow said:
The wifi sucks. So much so that I had to go out and buy a dual band router. Once I put it on the 5 ghz band it's been pretty solid. Still, I've never had to do that with any of my other devices.
Click to expand...
According to the Amazon listing for my router I should be able to do 5 ghz. I'll give that a shot if I can figure out how to switch it over.

I'm dumb with router settings things
 
Yea it could definitely be better. I've also noticed mine is slow to connect to WiFi after undocking it, where I use a USB Ethernet adapter. A lot of times I have to manually go into settings and select the connection and force it to connect. No idea if this is something on my end or for everyone.

Edit: this also happens after taking it out of sleep mode where I assume it connects via Ethernet. Makes it frustrating to play games like Splatoon.
 
Yeah it's not great, I don't even get half of my download speeds I am suppose to. But in its defense no handheld has had that great wifi just if you compare it even to like an older iPhone 5 that gets much better speed.
 
I downloaded the 90+MB patch for Mario + Rabbids in a few easy minutes. The eshop in general works great and downloads are fast. I don't Uttar my switch to play games online tho, as i get internet via satellite--i live off the grid.
 
koma said:
yeah, Switch's WiFi connection is quite bad. I bought a USB / Ethernet LAN adapter (there a few ones compatible with the Switch, no need to buy the official one), used a long Ethernet cable to connect it to my router and everything's good :P
Click to expand...
Useless if you play exclusively in handheld mode.
 
Amory said:
According to the Amazon listing for my router I should be able to do 5 ghz. I'll give that a shot if I can figure out how to switch it over.

I'm dumb with router settings things
Click to expand...

I was pretty noobish about it too a month ago. Basically you don't have to switch anything over - it should automatically output two signals. For instance I bought a Linksys, so when I set it up it automatically output "Linksys" and "Linksys_5GHz." Then I just connected my Switch to the second one.

I still only get one bar most of the time, but I think that's because my Switch is a floor above my router, and 5GHz is supposed to work better at close range. Still, despite having only one bar, it's been good enough for me not to drop any matches in Splatoon 2 since purchase.
 
The solution is to use 5GHZ or the LAN adapter.

Otherwise your internet experience on the Switch will be a broken mess that flat out doesn't work. No matter what you do.
 
Biske said:
The solution is to use 5GHZ or the LAN adapter.

Otherwise your internet experience on the Switch will be a broken mess that flat out doesn't work. No matter what you do.
Click to expand...

Hyperbolic statements like that make me wonder why people on here are incapable of not being so dramatic
 
UnemployedVillain said:
Hyperbolic statements like that make me wonder why people on here are incapable of not being so dramatic
Click to expand...

Its not hyperbole. It's a sober factual statement. The normal wifi connection 2 point whatever that most folks have been using for all their devices and not having problems, is pure shit on the Switch.

Every other device on my house works great with my same old lame ass basic Qwest router/modem thing.

Switch pure dog shit.

Other friends connections, also pure dog shit.

Until you put it on a 5 GHZ wireless then it works like normal. It's an actual problem.


You can fiddle with distance or whatever you want, but why waste your time when you can 100% fix it.
 
My Switch worked terribly with my cheap Netgear router. I upgraded to a nice ASUS router and my speed jumped up considerably.
 
Conkerkid11 said:
PS4 doesn't even support 5ghz. Dunno how people can call Switch the worst.
Click to expand...

Because it's the only device I've encountered where I had to sit next to my router to do anything online.

I don't know if they've improved anything, but since restarting the system back when Splatoon released, it's been better.
 
If I'm on 5GHZ I can be anywhere in the house and its fine, even from down in the basement with the router upstairs.
 
Wouldn't have noticed because I bring my switch and vita to beside my router to download something. Trying to play Splatoon 2 in the corner of my room on the other hand just wasn't gonna happen even though playing MK 8 on Wii U was great in the same position. Got the LAN adapter. For what it's worth, I have to go wired with the PS4 from that position too; I see it more as the Switch regressing to the PS4 standard and the Wii U being above that so I'm not as annoyed.
 
Everyone who is having problems with Switch WIFI should say what they are on. 2.4 or 5.


I'm willing to bet the majority of problems are going to be people using a 2.4GHZ connection.
 
The wifi on my Switch is garbage on both 2.4 and 5 GHz. I tried a range extender recently and I wouldn't get full bars 5 meters away in direct line of sight.

The reception on the 3DS in the same spots is much better, full bars where the Switch has 1 or 2.

Biggest issue with the Switch.
 
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