you know your wifi is fast. (You pay your internet company enough for it, anyway). So why are games downloading like this slow on your PS5? Why do you see so much lag when playing online? Why is it PS Remote Play practically unusable?
It’s probably not your wifi, and it’s not your PlayStation either. you are just using the wrong connection.
Not all wifi bands are the same
Your wifi network at home is divided into two groups: 2.4GHz and 5GHz. The 2.4GHz band is slower, but has a longer range. That means you can access it from other rooms without a problem, but you won’t experience the best speeds of your internet. The 5GHz band, on the other hand, is faster, and is the one that will reach your advertised speeds the closest. The problem is that it has a shorter range, so the further away from your router you are, the more trouble you might have connecting to it.
Here’s the gist in a nutshell: 2.4GHz for distance, 5GHz for speed. So, if your PS5 comes in near your router, it only makes sense use the 5GHz band to maximize your speeds for everything from game downloads to online gaming.
If your router splits its bands into separate connections (ie Jake’s Network 2.4 vs Jake’s Network 5.0), and you’re connecting to the 5GHz option, you might be fine. However, if your router only offers one network to connect to, then you need to make sure of that yourself the PS5 connects to the 5GHz band your. Because that is where the delay is thing lies
How to force your PS5 to use your faster 5GHz band
As it turns out, Sony doesn’t connect your PS5 to your 5GHz band by default. Instead, it uses auto-configuration to connect to whatever band it thinks the PS5 is should connect to As a relatively new PS5 owner, I didn’t know that until I found out this reddit thread pointed it out. I went to see what band my PS5 was using, and wouldn’t you know it: 2.4 GHz.
Sony probably does this to limit problems from users who keep their PlayStations too far from the router. If the PS5 defaults to 5GHz but the range between the console to the router was too great, internet stability would suffer. Defaulting to 2.4GHz, Sony makes it easy to connect to your wifi no matter where you are, but at the expense of speed.
Sony doesn’t make it clear how to force your PS5 to connect to the 5GHz band, but it’s pretty easy. Jump into Settings, then go to Network > Settings > Configure Internet Connection. Hover over your current network, then press the Settings button and select Advance Settings > Wi-Fi Frequency Bands. Switch the option from “Auto” to “5 GHz” and you’re good to go.
Wifi will never be as fast as ethernet
Although the 5GHz band will offer the best speeds possible on your wifi network, it’s still wifi. Wireless internet will never offer the most reliable speeds or performance, which is why ethernet is still king. If you want to really maximize your home internet speeds on your PS5, connect it to your router directly with an ethernet cable.
