Xbox questions from the uninitiated

[alfierose]

Hey everyone.

My son has an Xbox One that is about 5/6 years old at this point. He's complaining that it's become really slow downloading stuff and lagging. So before I'm talked into buying the latest model I have a few questions. 

Will better wifi in his room help? He's tried his xbox downstairs next to the router but says it doesn't download any quicker. However his room does have the worst connection because it's furthest away. We already have the top fibre whatever that our ISP offers and a while back I bought one of those room boosters but it didn't work because the booster wasn't able to pick up a signal in his room even though he does have some direct signal in there (if that makes sense). Any suggestions for improvement outside of running an ethernet cable the length of my house?

Does having a newer model, either the S or X, make a difference to speed and/or connection? I guess they all come with bigger hard drives now so are they like PC's and phones whereby the bigger the HD the faster they run?

If he does get a newer model will he lose all his current gameplay etc...or does it all transfer over via the account in the same way an iPhone does?

Thanks

[downzy]

1 hour ago, alfierose said:

Hey everyone.

My son has an Xbox One that is about 5/6 years old at this point. He's complaining that it's become really slow downloading stuff and lagging. So before I'm talked into buying the latest model I have a few questions. 

Will better wifi in his room help? He's tried his xbox downstairs next to the router but says it doesn't download any quicker. However his room does have the worst connection because it's furthest away. We already have the top fibre whatever that our ISP offers and a while back I bought one of those room boosters but it didn't work because the booster wasn't able to pick up a signal in his room even though he does have some direct signal in there (if that makes sense). Any suggestions for improvement outside of running an ethernet cable the length of my house?

Does having a newer model, either the S or X, make a difference to speed and/or connection? I guess they all come with bigger hard drives now so are they like PC's and phones whereby the bigger the HD the faster they run?

If he does get a newer model will he lose all his current gameplay etc...or does it all transfer over via the account in the same way an iPhone does?

Thanks

One thing to consider is that Microsoft is releasing a next generation Xbox at the end of this year.  It's likely to be expensive and difficult to buy since supply will be limited.  One thing though is that it's backwards compatible, so it will play all Xbox One and most of Xbox 360 games your son might have.  So you might want to consider if you would be better off waiting to buy the next generation of console rather than buying a replacement of his current generation console. He's likely going to want the nextgen console (Xbox Series X) at some point so just a question of whether it's worth waiting and saving for it or finding a cheap replacement of his Xbox One.  If you do go the replacement root, see if most of his games are digital or on disc.  If not on disc, Microsoft sells an all digital version that doesn't come with a disc drive that's much cheaper than the S or the X.  

Another thing to consider is that with the pandemic going on console manufacturers (here in Canada at least) have dropped most sales as demand for gaming has skyrocketed with everyone stuck at home.  So now might not be a great time to buy a late-stage console considering you're not likely to find anything on sale.  Even used consoles have come up in price.

With respect to download speeds and system lag, there might be work arounds that can help speed things up.  For system lag, your son might want to try clearing up some hard drive space.  If he's maxed out his hard drive it could negatively affect the console's ability to load up downloaded games.  If he doesn't want to delete anything you could buy an external hard drive that he could load some of the excess games/data on.

For wifi speeds, I really don't think this is an issue with the box itself.  You mentioned you bought a booster, but you likely have it in the wrong place.  Boosters are meant to serve as a bridge of sorts from the source of the wife signal to other locations.  So if you're putting in a room with a weak signal, it likely won't do much to improve the signal in that room.  You're going to want to move it closer to your wifi router.  

One thing to check to ensure it really isn't the box itself is to connect it directly to your router using an ethernet cable.  You would need your router and xbox to be near each other and close to a television.  If it's still downloading files or there multiplayer lags then it likely is an xbox problem. 

A good way to test the strength and speed of your router in various rooms is to download a speed test app on your smartphone (I use an app called SpeedSmart).  You can create a wifi map of your house and see where there are any weak spots.  If you are finding vast discrepancies in wifi performance in different rooms, you might want to look at replacing your wifi router with a mesh system.  They can be price ($200-$500 dollars), but they have the advantage of ensuring consistent and fast wifi speeds for each floor or space in your home without having to change your wifi connector like you do with a bridge or booster.  

[UsedYourIllusion]

The newest version of the Xbox One will probably run you about 400 bucks, if you waited, like @downzy mentioned, y'all could get the next generation Xbox within this year. Also, wifi extenders may help. Or you could look at hardwire through your electrical sockets, or using a hardwire switch  that gives Ethernet throughout the house. 

[Dazey]

Agreed with what the other have said. Buying a new XBox won't make any difference to his download speeds. You could maybe run a cable from the main router and connect via that which would be a fair bit quicker. 

Also as said above the current top of the range XBox is about £350 on Amazon with no games (though you can probably find a cheaper deal somewhere) but the new XBox is coming out in time for Christmas so I'd honestly wait and get him one of those rather than dropping over £300 now.

[Dazey]

Ask him which one he'd prefer.

 

 

[alfierose]

Thanks to you all and I appreciate the through explanation @downzy

I've been reading up on extenders and have bought a Netgear Mesh extender. It comes on Sunday so I'll see if that improves things.

Great advice about the console, I didn't realise the console coming out at xmas was different to the One X. A bit weird on the part of Microsoft, I would have probably bought a One X thinking it was the Series X.

If it's backwards compatible I'll definitely wait, he has a ton of 360 games. To be honest I wasn't keen on getting one before Xmas anyway if the issues are more connection based. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with his current machine - like most older tech it just could be better!

 

[downzy]

I would sign up to get pre-order information for the Xbox Series X (XSX).  They are going to be difficult to get at launch and through Christmas. 

The only real chance of getting one is to get your pre-order in as soon as they open pre-order sales at retailers (likely in the next one to three months).  

This doesn't bind you to buying it once it's been released, but at least you have the option.  And you might want to pick it up anyway and resell it as the price on third-party sales sites will likely be significantly higher than the retail price.  

[Dazey]

1 minute ago, alfierose said:

Thanks to you all and I appreciate the through explanation @downzy

I've been reading up on extenders and have bought a Netgear Mesh extender. It comes on Sunday so I'll see if that improves things.

Great advice about the console, I didn't realise the console coming out at xmas was different to the One X. A bit weird on the part of Microsoft, I would have probably bought a One X thinking it was the Series X.

If it's backwards compatible I'll definitely wait, he has a ton of 360 games. To be honest I wasn't keen on getting one before Xmas anyway if the issues are more connection based. There's nothing fundamentally wrong with his current machine - like most older tech it just could be better!

If it was a PC and it was running slowly because it was riddled with viruses and the hard drive needed de-fragging etc then that's one thing but a console has a locked eco system so you can't really mess it up. If his main concern is simply the download speeds then the wifi extender should help but it will be much faster if you can just run an ethernet cable from the router to his room. How far is that? I did it in my old house just pinning it to the wall up the stairs and along the skirting boards.

[downzy]

Another thing to consider is try changing your wifi connection from a 2.4ghz frequency to a 5ghz frequency (or vice versa).  If you live in an area where there are a lot of people using wifi (i.e., when you connect to your router, there are a lot of options), using 2.4ghz can slow things down as that's the most common frequency.  5ghz is much quicker, but comes with the setback that it doesn't go through walls as well and has a much shorter range.

The mesh system running on 5GHZ could greatly improve your wife issues.

[alfierose]

22 minutes ago, downzy said:

 

The mesh system running on 5GHZ could greatly improve your wife issues.

I'm a pretty good wife thanks! 

I'll look into the frequency thing. I think that's one of the things this booster does - finds the optimum frequency.

48 minutes ago, Dazey said:

If it was a PC and it was running slowly because it was riddled with viruses and the hard drive needed de-fragging etc then that's one thing but a console has a locked eco system so you can't really mess it up. If his main concern is simply the download speeds then the wifi extender should help but it will be much faster if you can just run an ethernet cable from the router to his room. How far is that? I did it in my old house just pinning it to the wall up the stairs and along the skirting boards.

I could do the cable but it's a last resort thing. I recently decorated the hallway and stairs and put new carpets down, I don't want cables unless it's the only option. Besides it would be nice if he left home before too long and figured out his own tech issues! 

Spoiler

I'm kind of joking I don't think he's going anywhere soon. 

 

[alfierose]

50 minutes ago, downzy said:

I would sign up to get pre-order information for the Xbox Series X (XSX).  They are going to be difficult to get at launch and through Christmas. 

The only real chance of getting one is to get your pre-order in as soon as they open pre-order sales at retailers (likely in the next one to three months).  

This doesn't bind you to buying it once it's been released, but at least you have the option.  And you might want to pick it up anyway and resell it as the price on third-party sales sites will likely be significantly higher than the retail price.  

That's useful to know. I'll keep an eye on when pre orders start.

[James Bond]

I replaced my Xbox One. It started having a lot of trouble reading discs. I always kept the console clean but was told the laser was likely dying and apparently that was a common enough problem on the first run models.

Problem is, I can't be much help on whether or not I noticed faster speeds on the newer model because I replaced it with a Playstation.

[alfierose]

47 minutes ago, Oldest Goat said:

What are you trying to win a cool mum award or something? This thread makes me realise how hard done by I truly was.

Like the others are saying you should wait til Christmas(but pre-order) an Xbox Series X and yes it is a dumb name.

Normally I'd be less invested but as we're all stuck in the house together using more bandwidth than usual I'm a captive audience. His exams are cancelled and it's not like he can do a whole lot else at the moment bar the odd game of garden cricket.

[Edward Nygma]

I've had my Xbox One for a couple of years and honestly, I've never had any problems with it. The download speeds are a drag though but that's not the console's fault I just put that down to the download speed from my provider and the internet speed in my area which is not the greatest. Let's say I'm downloading a tv series through my TV and it got a few episodes to download and I'm on my Xbox at the same time, it will handle it but I notice some lag in areas and it will jump at certain points, I just found that pausing my download on my TV while finishing up on the Xbox works for me. During Quarantine I'm so glad for my Xbox because otherwise I'd be bored out my mind. 

[gunsguy]

I would run a cable and not use wifi at all for gaming

[alfierose]

3 hours ago, gunsguy said:

I would run a cable and not use wifi at all for gaming

I'd probably consider this if I could get someone in to do a proper, discreet job of it (not possible in lockdown). His room is the furthest point in the house so it's quite a lot of cable.

Then they'd all want cable to their machines, there's another 2 of them not including my husband.  

Which is probably part of the issue - the amount of people and the amount of tech!

[gunsguy]

5 hours ago, alfierose said:

I'd probably consider this if I could get someone in to do a proper, discreet job of it (not possible in lockdown). His room is the furthest point in the house so it's quite a lot of cable.

Then they'd all want cable to their machines, there's another 2 of them not including my husband.  

Which is probably part of the issue - the amount of people and the amount of tech!

Lucky for me I did my own cabling and eithernet hubs to make it easy.  Yes it was a lot to do but worth it.