Topic: Switch 2 game download speeds via 5G wifi are slower than Switch 1 in spite of the newer, faster hardware.

(edit: 7-10-25 Update: TLDR: I think my IPS is throttling my switch 2 using 5g wifi. No other devices seem to have this problem. I can actually download games faster with 2.4ghz wifi. /edit)

Anyone else having this issue? Have you tried downloading a game recently with switch 2?

On day 1, switch 2 game download speeds were good, faster than switch 1, but in the past week or two, Switch 2 always gets stuck at 1% now, or they are always at snails pace taking an hours, even for a game update.

I've got 5g wifi, Verizon fiber optic internet. Switch 1 didn't have these issues so consistently. I can't help feel Switch 2 is the problem. I never had problems downloading evening updates for Splatoon 3 or Rocket League via wifi. (wired connection seems to work fine, I tested it, but the room I game in isn't set up for a wired connection)

(On a side note: Things I've already done to help improve rocket league server stability, which has been surprisingly poor with switch 2 for no clear reason: manual DNS, port forward, cycle the router. set MTU to 1500, restrict servers to my own region. For some reason if I disable and reenable wifi while rocket league is open, this can yield stable online matches, but it only lasts for up to a few matches.)

I've had a few where the download time would say something crazy like a four hour wait time. Then halfway through it suddenly picks up speed and finishes in 10 minutes. It's weird i don't know why it does that.

@Truegamer79 Yeah, maybe this is a kin to christmas time, when things get bogged down because everyone's gotten new consoles or games to download. At some point, things free up and the download goes through. I just really wasn't expecting this in June.

I assume the speeds were slow because of the nearly 3 million people connecting to the download servers. I’m sure they’ll update as needed, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

Times can vary, but overall it has been insanely faster than with Switch 1 for me.

You can setup your router all you want but if the servers are slammed. You have no choice but to wait. Remember this is worldwide not just one isolated Region. This is what alot of people seemingly tend to forget having only lived with "Internet" and nothing else. Even if you get Fiber or 1gb or higher internet speeds that's not Server speeds are based on connection that determine your actual downloads.

@sethfranum
OP didn't specify the rate it was downloading just that it seemed slower than Switch. Specifically that it seems to be "stuck at 1%" which sounds more like the download hasn't started more than it being "slow". Also speaking for myself my service is ~105Mbps DL and I saturate that connection downloading both from Switch and Switch 2

When you start talking about post 100Mbps and upto Gigabit speeds you obviously have to dive into distribution caching, edge servers etc. Then you also have to consider backhaul congestion, how much bandwidth your ISP is actually buying, time of day and so on. In the case of downloading a game you might even hit CPU bottlenecks decompressing

But I don't think this is at all what the OP was describing. I suspect if they looked at their traffic what they would see would be 0Mbps. Nothing. Until it decides to start. Really, unless someone posts actual download rates then there's really not that much that can be said

I assume you are talking about a wired Internet connection here? Switch 2 is massively faster than Switch 1 with my wifi. Things which used to take hours to download now take minutes with the same wifi connection.

@FishyS
Yeah, both wired. I haven't tested Switch eShop bandwidth wireless for a while and last I checked I had half the internet speed which I assume it hit. But certainly on Switch 2 it maxes out my connection both wired and wireless

When I checked the other day my Switch 2 had a connection speed of over 1Gbps to my access point over WiFi6 (I don't have a 6Ghz radio so no 6E). So presumably you could pull around 800Mbps or so. The Switch 2 was WiFi 5, and not a particularly beefy radio, I would guess the limit there would've been closer to 200-300Mbps real world. In theory

In the wild people have all sorts of suboptimal network setups. Certainly I doubt most people give anywhere near as much thought (or time and money) as I do

Yeah, internet traffic is one thing, but those slowdowns were rare on switch 1, or easy to work around. With switch 2, it's like my wifi is always getting throttled or stalled. I don't recall having problems downloading updates for Rocket league or Spaltoon in the evening 6pm-9pm. Updates for both of these games were progressing at about 10% an hour or freezing. This issue seems quite unique to my switch 2 (and possibly my internet service).

Have any @nintendolife staff noticed their switch 2 wifi download speeds are painfully slower than switch 1? It's almost like my switch 2 on 5g wifi is targeted to be throttled, while switch 1 on 5g is not.

Doing some tests now since I'm at home, have both infront of me and nothing more interesting to do right now. Note again I only have a ~100Mbps internet connection so that's my limit here. I'm about ..... 1m or so away from my access point, Unifi U7 Lite. I have it setup with 20MHz on 2.4GHz and 160MHz on 5Ghz. So fairly conservative and neighbour friendly on 2.4Ghz and fairly solid on 5Ghz although not as high as some APs can go. I don't have a 6Ghz radio to test Switch 2's WiFi 6E although, again, I don't have the internet connection to really test that anyways

Switch 2:
Connected at 5Ghz - WiFi 6
Link Rate: 1.08Gbps (this kind of link speed? I'd be getting about 600Mbps if my internet allowed)
System Speed Test: 104Mbps
Downloading a game: Unifi is reporting between ~88Mbps and ~120Mbps, so likely saturating my internet
Connected at 2.4Ghz WiFi6
System Speed Test @ 2.4Ghz: 90Mbps (this result on a 20MHz 2.5GHz radio? very nice!)

Switch OLED:
Connected at 5Ghz - WiFi 5
Link Rate: 156Mbps (this kind of link speed? I won't be getting much more than 80Mbps if that)
System Speed Test: 72.9Mbps (yep)
Downloading a game: Unifi is reporting between ~9Mbps and ~23Mbps
Connected at 2.4Ghz WiFi4
System Speed Test @ 2.4Ghz: 35Mbps

Also just for fun Switch OLED Docked on Gigabit downloading a game. It can go over 100Mbps but.... it often throttles down significantly to ~9Mbps or less. The system speed test wired on Switch OLED I get 101Mbps, effectively full speed. This suggest to me that most, although not all, of the Switch's "slow WiFi" was actually CPU. Especially on the downloading of games front

And obviously, Switch 2 on Gigabit I'm limited by my ~100Mbps internet service, same as I am on WiFi. So nothing interesting to report on that front. Ask me again in (checks calendar) around 2 and a half months and I can check some of the Switch 2 stuff on a 500Mbps internet connection

@WoomyNNYes We haven't tested speeds extensively, but the general team consensus is either 'more or less the same' or faster for a couple of us.

I might run a poll to get a sense of things from the wider community, but from our POV it's been fine.

@skywake My switch 2's wifi connection test works fine, consistently shows 100mbs for wifi download speed. But when I download games & updates it seems to consistently get throttled or stalls in ways I'm not used to seeing with the switch 1, which I'd been using all the way up until switch 2 launch.

edit: If I switch to 2.4ghz wifi, the game download resumes. Switch to 5g, the download stalls or only sporadically advances a percentage point. Change back to 2.4 ghz, it resumes. I wish I knew how to tell if my ISP is throttling the 5g or if switch 5g is faulty.

I am able to test a wired connection and that works fine.

@WoomyNNYes
I assume you're just a fair distance away from your access point. Enough so that 5Ghz is unstable. Again, I was getting 100Mbps when downloading a game on 5Ghz on Switch 2 and I'm sure it could go faster because it had a link speed of 1Gbps. On 2.4GHz I was getting 90Mbps on the speed test so I would assume the same downloading on 2.4Ghz

On Switch the same game download test I get something closer to 15Mbps. So there's a significant improvement over Switch

Again, maybe connect to the 2.4Ghz radio if your signal on 5Ghz is that unstable. Or maybe consider upgrading your access point to something more modern. Or just consider where your access point is placed. Or check for interference. Honestly, there are so many variables here

@skywake It's about 30 feet from the wireless router, going through one indoor wall, and the switch had no problems with 5g from the same location.

@WoomyNNYes
I don't know what more to say to you. I benchmarked mine, Switch 2 is significantly better. Either you have a faulty unit or there's some issue with your network setup. Given how little regard most people give their network setup (usually just dropping their ISP provided router on the kitchen bench) I would start there. Especially if you've been in there messing around with settings blindly

Again, repeating, I don't see what you're seeing. This is not a Switch 2 issue. It's something wrong with your setup

@skywake I'm going to have to consult nintendo or see if there's any chance the store can lend me a switch 2 to test.(probably a long shot)