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Xbox One High Packet Loss: How to Easily Fix It in 2024

Last updated: February 23, 2022

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Xbox One gaming is an addictive pastime that can provide hours of entertainment, allowing you to play alone, with friends, or with gamers around the globe.

Frustratingly, your gaming session can be quickly ruined if you find yourself dealing with packet loss.

If you are experiencing high packet loss, Xbox gaming can quickly go from exciting to infuriating, with your gaming session crashing or lagging.

There are a few ways of fixing high packet loss, which may be a result of network issues, pre-existing errors, or other connectivity problems.

Simple techniques, like avoiding gaming during peak times, restarting the router, doing a hard reset on your Xbox One, clearing your Mac address, or using a VPN are some things you can do to improve your packet loss and regain control of your gaming.

Using a VPN is a simple way you can ensure a more stable connection and fix packet loss.

In a Hurry? Here’s How to Fix Xbox One High Packet Loss

What Is High Packet Loss on Xbox One?

If you are accessing streaming content or playing online games using Xbox One consoles, there is always a lot going on behind the scenes.

Using your Xbox console, data bundles (also called packets) are constantly being exchanged with the servers you access. If data does not make it to the destination server, this is referred to as packet loss.

Packet loss can be identified by:

☑️ High ping
☑️ Latency issues (network jittering)
☑️ Connection timeouts
☑️ Network connection crashing

What Is the Reason Behind Xbox One High Packet Loss? 

The main reason for high packet loss is network congestion. Network congestion occurs when the network is not able to handle all of the traffic, which leads it to start losing data to attempt to keep the network from going under.

The next most common reasons for packet loss on Xbox are improper configuration or server-side leaks.

Finally, packet loss can be a fault on the user’s end, which could be a problem with poor signal, network interference, or incorrect cables, which can cause data packets to be dropped between your game server and Xbox One console.

So, whether it’s network congestion, improper configuration, server-side leaks, poor signal, or any other cause, there is usually a way to help fix the problem of high packet loss.

How to Check for Packet Loss on Xbox One

There are a lot of ways to test for packet loss. If you want to check for packet loss on your console, follow these steps:

  1. Press the Xbox button to turn on your Xbox One.
Xbox turn on/off button

2. Pick Profile and System tab.

Profile and system tab

3. Open the user Settings > Network settings.

Setting option on profile and system tab

4. Click on the Network settings.

Xbox Network setting

5. In the menu on the right, pick Detailed Network Statistics to test network speed.

Xbox detailed network statistics option

6. Wait as the test is being performed, evaluating your latency, packet loss, and upload and download speeds.

Xbox Detailed network statistics result.

What is Optimal Packet Loss on Xbox One?

Although packet loss occurs on almost every network, there is a range of loss, some of which is bearable. So, even though no amount of loss is good, there is actually such a thing as good packet loss. Here are the standards:

☑️ Good Packet Loss is less than 1%
☑️ Moderate Packet Loss between 1-2.5% is considered acceptable
☑️ High packet loss (significantly negative packet loss) is packet loss upwards of 10%

If you see that you are in the realm of high packet loss, you will want to keep reading for tips on fixing Xbox One packet loss issues for your gaming purposes.

How to Fix High Packet Loss on Xbox One

Here are some of the common ways to fix packet loss:

Use a VPN

Using a VPN to fix high packet loss is a simple and effective technique. Follow these steps:

  1. Download ExpressVPN to your PC and install it.
  2. Launch ExpressVPN and sign in to your VPN account.
  3. Connect to one of the VPN servers.
  4. Connect your Xbox One so your traffic is routed through your PC.
  5. See if you are still experiencing packet loss.

Use a wired connection: 

It is a given that using a wired internet connection will be faster than a wireless connection. If you connect your Xbox One manually to your Ethernet cable, this will give you a much better speed.

Restart your router:

While it may seem like it is too simple to be effective, restarting your router is a pretty effective way to resolve connectivity issues. When you start your router again, issues may have been resolved.

Avoid peak server times:

If you are gaming during peak session times, you are likely to experience packet loss. While it may be difficult to decide to stay offline during peak times when servers are crowded, avoiding peak session times is a simple way to guarantee a more smooth gaming experience.

Disconnect your Xbox: 

Manually disconnecting Xbox One from the home network can be a simple way to resolve high packet loss since it allows your Xbox to reboot without issues that may exist on your connection. If this manual disconnection does not work, you can try to do a hard reset.

3 Best VPNs to Fix High Packet Loss 

As we said in our previous tip, using a VPN is one common way to improve high packet loss. Here are the VPNs that proved most effective at decreasing packet loss:

Devices compatible with ExpressVPN

If you are looking to use a VPN to improve your speeds and avoid gaming lag and high packet loss, ExpressVPN is a great choice.

ExpressVPN also has great online privacy and security to protect users from online threats. ExpressVPN’s encryption will also ensure that you avoid ISP throttling since your ISP won’t be able to detect that you are accessing game servers at all.

If you need further assistance, you can contact technical support, which is available 24/7 via live chat.

Pros:

  • 5 simultaneous devices
  • Strong encryption
  • 30-day money-back guarantee
  • Live chat support

Cons:

  • Pricier VPN

2. NordVPN

Devices compatible with NordVPN

If you are playing games on your Xbox and trying to avoid high packet loss and connection timeouts, NordVPN is a great option.

NordVPN has over 5,200 servers in more than 60 countries and has military-grade encryption for hiding your gaming traffic entirely to avoid ISP throttling and keep data traffic safe.

Pros:

  • 30-day money-back guarantee
  • 24./7 live-chat service
  • Double VPN
  • 6 simultaneous devices

Cons:

  • Desktop app inconsistent

Devices compatible with Surfshark

To avoid high packet loss, Xbox gamers on a tight budget will appreciate this VPN.

Surfshark is an affordable VPN that will help users unblock servers in over 65 countries around the world, offering good speed and online encryption to help reduce loss.

Pros:

  • Helps improve speeds
  • 30-day money-back guarantee
  • Affordable
  • Unlimited device connections

Cons:

  • Slower speeds at times

FAQs

Why is my packet loss so high?
You could be experiencing high packet loss because one of the components that brings your data across your network’s not efficient. This could be a router that is not working well, or weak wi-fi signal, or even a cable that is loose.

In order to fix packet loss, you will have to figure out the weak link in your network that is causing this packet loss.

Does packet loss make you lag?
More often than not, lag is caused by an issue in your network, which usually resolves pretty fast. Spikes in your ping and packet loss can cause significant lag, and are usually a result of interference issues with the path your data is traveling from your computer to your server and then back to you.
Can I use a VPN on Xbox One?
Yes. You can use a VPN on Xbox One either by sharing the VPN connection on your PC or by installing your VPN on your router.
Why do I have Xbox One high packet loss on a wired connection?
If you are using a wired connection and are experiencing packet pass, this could be related to your hardware instead of your network. A router that is faulty may slow performance.

Conclusion

If packet loss occurs while you are gaming on your Xbox One, there are some ways to fix this, one of which is a VPN. Our go-to VPN to help ensure the best gaming experience on Xbox is ExpressVPN.

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