Nintendo Switch How To Lower Ping & Fix Lag!

I’m sure you love your Nintendo Switch but hate how slow your internet speed can be sometimes and want to know ways to lower ping. I noticed how slow the switches internet can be, so here’s how to lower ping and make your download speeds faster!

  1. Use a USB ethernet adapter for a wired internet connection instead of Wi-fi for faster Nintendo Switch internet speeds
  2. Change Your Switches DNS settings for way faster internet connection
  3. Move your Switch closer to your Wi-Fi router to get a faster download speed
  4. Download games in rest mode for faster download speeds
  5. Pay for faster internet service or switch to fiberoptic for a sharp increase in Switches download speeds
  6. Move your Wifi router and Switch away from brick walls and other Wi-fi devices to increase the Wi-Fi signal
  7. Power cycle your home router settings

I will discuss in detail every step and how exactly you can troubleshoot your Nintendo Switches slow Wi-fi connection. Are you ready? Let’s go!

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Use A Wired LAN adapter

Using a wired Lan adapter is the best thing you can do to improve your wifi connection. I own this one from UGREEN and it allows you to connect an ethernet cable directly into your Nintendo Switch via a USB port.

Before I used this adapter all my Super Smash Ultimate matches were unplayable(click here to know Nintendo online is so bad) but after I used the connector suddenly the lag stopped and I could play games. Finally!

I highly recommend purchasing the UGREEN adapter I own, but any LAN adapter will do and it will make a TREMENDOUS difference to your Nintendo Switches internet speeds, as a wired connection is just so much faster

It also works with other devices such as a Laptop so you have extra utility

How To Test Your Nintendo Switches Internet Connection

Now before you do anything to improve your connection Nintendo suggests you must do the following, this is from the official Nintendo website.

While troubleshooting download and upload speeds, it is recommended that you test your internet connection after making any changes to the settings of your network to determine if the change improved your network connection

Nintendo Official Website

Nintendos reasoning is you won’t know if these methods will improve your internet connection if you don’t test your connection after each method.

As everyone’s internet is different and some methods could actually make your speed slower, so be sure to experiment.

Follow the steps on how to test your Switches internet connection.

  1. Turn on your Nintendo Switch
  2. Go to system settings>internet settings
  3. Test connection

Now you know your Nintendo Switch’s base internet, now it’s time to troubleshoot the problem

How To Change Your Nintendo Switches DNS Settings

Now depending on your situation this method could drastically improve your Switches internet speed, so here’s how you do it.

  1. Go to systems settings>internet>internet settings>connect to network>change settings>change
  2. Change settings and switch the DNS settings to manual instead of automatic
  3. Change your primary DNS to 208.672.222.222
  4. Change your secondary DNS to 208.067.220.220
  5. Wait a minute, and then test your internet connection and see if it’s improved!

Now ideally your connection is improved, if you want to try another you can try Google DNS server. Simply repeat the steps but change the settings

  1. Change your primary DNS to 8.8.8.8
  2. Change your secondary DNS to 8.8.4.4
  3. Wait a minute, and then test your internet connection and see if it’s improved!

Now I hope this method has drastically improved your Nintendo Switches internet connection. Please check out this YouTube video for a more visual explanation

Improve Your Nintendo Switches Internet Speed By Changing The MTU

Changing your switches MTU which is the maximum transmission unit allows your Switch to transfer larger packets of data at a time. Now if you have a terrible internet connection this won’t magically improve your internet speed but it should make a solid difference.

  1. Go to system settings>internet>internet settings
  2. Navigate to your specific network> go to MTU
  3. From MTU switch the number from 1400 to 1500
  4. Click save
  5. Test your internet connection and see if it’s improved

Now, this should improve your Switches internet connection if a game took 90 minutes to download it should take around 70 minutes which is a solid improvement.

Check out Nintendos Lifes YouTube video for more explanation on the topic

How to Power Cycle a Home Network

Now, it might be your router itself that is affecting your switches slow internet connection. Performing a power cycle will reset your router and it’s recommended by Nintendo to solve your slow internet problem.

  1. Unplug your power cable from the modem and the wireless router if your router light remains on, you must remove the battery from your router to perform a power cycle
  2. Wait for 30 seconds
  3. After 30 seconds plugin the cable back into your router and wait for the lights to remain steady
  4. Test the internet connection and see if it’s improved

Check the video below if you’re having trouble following the steps

My Nintendo Switches Internet Connection Is Still Slow?

If you followed all the troubleshooting steps in this article then the last step is ensuring there are no other users or applications using bandwidth in your network.

Anything from your sister streaming Netflix to anyone using the internet will reduce the speed of your connection, so try to remove the number of devices whenever you want the best possible connection.

If the download speeds are still lower than you think they should be you must contact your Internet Service Provider as recommended by Nintendo. If the results are expected you might need to upgrade your service for better performance.

Check this link on ways to improve your internet connection, or contact your service provider who can assist in troubleshooting your poor internet connection.

Do Switch Games Download Faster Docked?

There is no evidence Nintendo Switch games download faster when docked, but downloading games in sleep mode is roughly 15% than downloading games whilst the Switch is on

The above video by GameXplain has shown you should take advantage of the Nintendo Switches sleep mode to download games THAT much quicker. Who has the time to wait?

What is a Good Download Speed For Nintendo switch?

Now according to the official Nintendo website, your recommended download speeds should be 3 Mbps and your upload 1 Mbps. If it falls under that do the troubleshooting steps in this article.

Why Is My Switches Download Paused?

Now certain games and applications will pause downloads whilst they are being played, to ensure the best possible experience when using games online features and services. If this doesn’t apply to you follow the following steps

  1. Makes sure your Switch has an active internet connection
  2. Close any open software from the HOME Menu by clicking the software title and pressing the x button
  3. From your user page in the home Menu select User
  4. User>User Settings>Update Download Progress 
  5. If the problem continues to restart the console and wait for the console to reconnect. Once connected the download should again to start to progress as long as you closed al applications that could have paused the download.

Why Does Nintendo Switch Download so Slow?

It could be slow internet speeds from your internet service provider, multiple devices using the same wi-fi network, unresponsive internet equipment, or wireless interference of the wi-fi signal like a wall in between the Switch and the router.

Those reasons are from the official Nintendo website

If you think your poor download speeds are not related to these causes mentioned above, then please troubleshoot your Nintendo Switch using the information in this article

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