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Switch wi fi is atrocious for me (READ MOD POST)

Is anyone else getting issues with Switch wi-fi? I am getting one bar and constantly disconnects in a room right next to my router where all other devices to not drop.

It is absolutely terrible and I hope it's a fluke issue I'm having and not an issue with the system itself.
 

ModBot

Not a mod, just a bot.
Let's try to avoid making this a console war about whether or not Switch is a good console, and instead focus on having a thread so we can see under which WiFi configurations, if any, this problem manifests.
 

ryz

Member
Is anyone else getting issues with Switch wi-fi? I am getting one bar and constantly disconnects in a room right next to my router where all other devices to not drop.

It is absolutely terrible and I hope it's a fluke issue I'm having and not an issue with the system itself.

I have exactly the same problem. Download of Zelder is also infuriatingly slow.
 

L~A

Member
Reposting from last thread...

Is anyone else getting issues with Switch wi-fi? I am getting one bars and constancy disconnects in a room right next to my router where all other devices to not drop.

It is absolutely terrible and I hope it's a fluke issue I'm having and not an issue with the system itself.

I had the same issue, and I think I fixed it by changing the channel on the wifi router. I say think because I only tried once this morning, and it worked pretty fine, but too early to say for sure. But I did notice that on a crowded channel (the most crowded), anything outside a 1m radius > utter garbage. Looks like the Switch is pretty sensitive to interferences (at least in 2.4Ghz)

Environment isn't ideal here (lots of other wifi networks around, thick concrete walls, etc.). Unfortunately, no 5Ghz for me.
 

ViolentP

Member
2.4Ghz = better range, greater congestion
5Ghz = Less congestion, lower range

Configure smart. Configure, S-Mart.
 

catbrush

Member
Is anyone else getting issues with Switch wi-fi? I am getting one bar and constantly disconnects in a room right next to my router where all other devices to not drop.

It is absolutely terrible and I hope it's a fluke issue I'm having and not an issue with the system itself.

I had this problem until I powered the Switch off (not sleep mode) and back on again. Until I did that I couldn't even download the day 1 firmware update. Hope this helps.
 

jblank83

Member
5ghz channel seems solid.

Have had no drops, no speed problems. Updates went very quickly. Transitioning to something like the eShop is fast.
Performance was the same whether I was close or far to the router. In fact, it seems to perform better than my S7 Edge.

Currently using an ASUS RT-N66W N-900 router.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
My Switch is setup near my PS4, and reports about the same signal strength as that on my 801.11ac network.
 

Airbar

Neo Member
I'm on 2.4GHz WPS2 and it works great for me. Router is on another floor and I'm still getting like 6 MBs out of 12 possible.
 
Some people were saying the signal appears stronger with the Joycons on the Switch while docked.

Either way, this reminds me of the problems some people were having with the Wii U near launch.
 

SiDCrAzY

Member
Been working fine for me, I'm feeling really lucky I haven't had any issues yet. I don't have the best internet to begin with.
 
NeOak helpfully replied in the locked thread, and I'm sure they are right. I just want to see if anyone else had any ideas-

Couldn't find a better place to post this-

I grabbed my Switch from the front porch and headed to a hotel for the night. Apparently the Wifi selector can find the hotel ID, but since I can't pull up a web page to "login" to the free wifi,I can't connect and get the update. Is it possible to get the update any other way?
 

Type_Raver

Member
Try scanning the wifi Environment around you using a smartphone app like inSSIDer, to determine which wifi channel your using, how busy that channel is and see which is least used.
Then in your wifi router settings, change the channel to the desired one which should mitigate dropouts.

This could be one of the problems people typically face with such symptoms.
 

Mr-Joker

Banned
Yeah I had it lost connection after my little brother change the Switch region, we had to put in the password again.
 

RobertM

Member
Yeah it's definitely a big issues. Tried to connect to various routers at work to update the Switch and it was failing to connect to most of the routers. It was having issues displaying correct mac address and couldn't even rescan for networks. On top of that, the mac address was fucking up and the system needed to be rebooted. Had to go to an area without many networks around and it finally worked.
 

Solid Raiden

Neo Member
I've tried connecting to the eShop all day with zero success. It's frustrating but also this is day 1. I recall similar issues when I got my PS4 day 1. I'm sure it will sort itself out.
 

Brofield

Member
I was curious too why I seemed to have a low WiFi connection. When I did a test it came back 29ish Mbps DL and 8ish Mbps UL. Seemed fairly normal to me, despite having just one bar of signal.
 

Ratros

Member
You might be using the 2.4-Ghz connection. This band is shared by many other wireless signals (phone, bluetooth devices, microwave oven, etc.) and can become extremely crowded if you live in an apartment with many other hotspots and devices nearby. Consequently, the connection quality is poor and the speed of transmission is limited.

If your router supports 5 Ghz connection, try connecting Switch to this specific band (Theoretically speaking 5 Ghz connection covers less space than 2.4 Ghz connection, however this should not be a problem in most urban homes). If 5 Ghz is not supported on your router, consider changing the channel of your wireless connection (the option is available on the control panel, usu. accessible with your browser, of your router). Channel 1, 6 and 11 are the preferable choices. Still, this may never solve your problem completely and I still recommend you upgrade your router.
 
I'm on 5Ghz, and all is well. Everything is very fast and no signal problems. I've been sitting out on my patio with the Switch and no issues.

Is everyone that is having problems on 2.4Ghz?
 

Trike

Member
I had no issue with the WiFi. Downloaded the system update via phone hotspot while best buy had us wait until midnight. When I got home Zelda update downloaded pretty fast on 5.0ghz, friend accidentally connected to the 2.4ghz and it was slow. Which isn't too surprising.
 
5GHZ network with no issues on other devices and the Switch shows 2 bars sat directly on the shelf under the wifi router. Move it about a meter away and it drops to one bar (iPhone etc at same distance have 3 bars). Strangely enough, it seems to hold that one bar anywhere else in the apartment so doesn't disconnect.

Couldn't get more than about 2mbps on a 55mbps line at any point in the past 7 hours. No real recourse as I'm in a country without Nintendo Support :(
 

jon bones

hot hot hanuman-on-man action
5Ghz here, was very snappy, full bars.

I don't think I'll really be able to put it through the paces til Pocket Rumble / Puyo Puyo / Mk8, though.

edit, i'm gonna try 2.4 from another room
 
I have a terrible connection when it's docked in my entertainment center, but pulling it out literally a foot away from it makes everything move super quick.

I need a new entertainment center.
 

Ocelott

Member
Pretty sure you guys/gals might need to take a look at your networks...I have over 20+ devices and my Switch sings on Wifi.
 
I noticed this today when I was downloading Zelda one room away from my router. Had only 1 bar. Will try 5ghz later tonight. I am going to be majorly bummed if I can't use this online in my bedroom.
 

ryz

Member
Pretty sure you guys/gals might need to take a look at your networks...I have over 20+ devices and my Switch sings on Wifi.

Look, I'm using two wifi routers and also have +10 devices connected here which work flawlessly. The switch doesn't. "it works for me lol" is not helping here.
 

CronoShot

Member
I'm connected to 2.4GHz, no problems to speak of.

Then again, I'm set up fairly close to the router and I haven't really tested the range.
 

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
Until now I had the following: at home I connected it to the 5Ghz network without any issues, working flawlessly with great download speeds. However it didn't see at all my 2.4 GHz network on the same router. I didn't bother to check more in details as I was happy it works in the other one.

Now I'm somewhere else and I connected it to another 2.4Ghz network and my Switch is on the desk at maximum 1 meter from the modem and it shows practically 0 lines and the connection works very poorly unless I move it literally on top of the modem.
 
I connected without issue and my download speeds have been fantastic. No problems with wi-fi whatsoever. I'm actually quite surprised at how good it's been. A big step above the Wii U and 3DS.
 

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
It is terrible for me on my 5 GHz. To download stuff, I had to take it out of the dock and get it near my router. Online gaming will be night impossible for me if this keeps up.
 
Glad to hear I'm not the only one having issues. I was worried it was a problem with my specific Switch. I'll change up my internet situation eventually, but for now I'll just place the console near my router when I download software. Luckily I'm not that active of an online player though.
 

Thraktor

Member
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Spec wise it's pretty much on par with any modern high-end or upper mid-range phone. Technical specs are 802.11ac with 2x2 MIMO over 80 Hz bands with theoretical speeds up to 867Mb/s on 5GHz and 400Mb/s on 2.4GHz. Actual speeds will depend on antenna configuration and how good a signal is available to the user's wi-fi access point or router.

Yeah it's awful for me. 0 bars and sitting close to where I get great signal for my PS4 and Xbox.


That's phones wifi was AWFUL.

Wi-fi connectivity will depend heavily on the device's antenna design and whether any other components would compromise the ability of the antenna to get a good signal. Given that metal casings on phones like the HTC One can act as Faraday cages (ie they can block radio waves), the design and positioning of the antenna is extremely important if you want to get a good wi-fi connection. With how many devices use Broadcom wi-fi modules without issue, I'd assume HTC's antenna/case design is the more likely culprit there.

Regarding Switch, I seem to be getting a pretty good connection to a 5GHz network from a fairly mediocre access point on the far side of the house that many other devices have issues with. I haven't thoroughly tested it yet, but it seems good so far.

If people are having issues with any wi-fi connection (Switch or otherwise), I'd recommend the following:

- Use a wi-fi scanner app to see where the emptiest part of the spectrum is and manually set your wi-fi channel to that. Even if it's all pretty similar, manually set it to something. Some access points/routers have issues with switching channels too often in auto mode, and if nothing else by parking yourself in one channel you discourage other networks from using it.

- If your router/access point is running both 2.4GHz and 5GHz as a single SSID, try setting them to separate SSIDs (ie ssidname and ssidname_5ghz) and then connecting 5GHz devices to the 5GHz one. In theory running dual-band on a single SSID is supposed to work, but a lot of consumer routers and access points choke on it and you end up with much worse speed/reliability than two separate networks.
 
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