I recently upgraded my rural home in England to Sky Gigafast Unlimited Fibre, which promises at least 600 Mbps and up to 900+ Mbps. A speed test shows around 489 Mbps, but game and movie downloads on my PS5 reach only about 7 MB/s, roughly the same as before the upgrade. The PS5 is connected through a TP-Link setup, possibly using the house's existing copper wiring, and Wi-Fi gives me very high ping. Could the internal network connection be limiting the speed, and what is the best way to improve it?
4 Answers
First, check the units. 489 Mbps is about 61 MB/s in ideal conditions, so 7 MB/s is only around 56 Mbps. Run a test from a laptop or PC connected directly to the Sky router with a proper Ethernet cable. That will show whether the fibre connection is slow or whether the limitation is somewhere between the router and the PS5.
A speed test does not guarantee that every download will run at the same rate. The game server, download CDN, console software, busy network conditions, and other traffic can all be bottlenecks. Test several different downloads and compare them with a wired computer test. Also remember that the console’s download display may use MB/s while the broadband package is advertised in Mbps.
Copper pipes are unlikely to be the main reason for poor Wi-Fi, although walls, distance, and interference can cause problems. For a stationary console, a wired connection is preferable. If direct Ethernet is impossible, place a mesh access point near the console rather than relying on a distant router, and check that the TP-Link adapters are negotiating a fast link rather than falling back to a low-speed connection.
If the TP-Link equipment is using powerline adapters, the electrical wiring in the house can definitely reduce throughput and add latency. Try connecting the PS5 directly to the router with Ethernet, even temporarily. If that fixes it, replace the powerline link with a direct cable, Ethernet run, or possibly a properly configured mesh system. Wired is usually much more stable than Wi-Fi for gaming.
That makes sense. The PS5 is not directly beside the router, so I’ll test it with a long Ethernet cable first to isolate the TP-Link connection.