You Can Force Your Router to Prioritize Game Downloads
Hideo Kojima’s latest packet/tar delivery-based afterlife simulator finally launched today. It’s also a massive download, like most AAA games these days. If you’re impatient or just want to be a little more considerate of other people on your network, don’t forget that your router can (probably) speed up your console a bit.
Most Wi-Fi routers, including our best Wi-Fi 6 routers and best mesh Wi-Fi systems , have features that allow you to prioritize certain devices on your network. Under normal circumstances, your router tries to make sure every device has a roughly equal chance of a reliable connection, but by prioritizing certain devices, your router can favor them over faster downloads or a more reliable connection.
This is handy when you’re downloading a big game to your console, as your download speed won’t slow down when someone else starts streaming a movie. Conversely, if you’re more patient, you can use this feature to prioritize your TV so your streams aren’t interrupted while your console chugs along downloading all that data .
The process for enabling this feature varies by model, but if you have a router management app, you can usually find it in the settings of that app. For example, I use a Nest Wifi Pro router. In the Google Home app, you can tap Wifi > Devices, then find the device you want to prioritize and set it to receive priority for a short period of time.
Some routers also allow you to prioritize specific types of traffic rather than specific devices. For example, in the Eero app, go to Settings > Network Settings and select Smart Queue Management (or SQM). This feature allows you to prioritize traffic for online gaming, video streaming, or conference calls. If you want to make sure your meeting with your boss isn’t ruined by the game you plan to play right after the call, this can be a handy trick.