Having PS4 WiFi Issues? 8 Tips and Fixes Worth Trying

We are here to help you troubleshoot any PS4 internet connection issues you may encounter. Let’s see what to do if your PS4 WiFi is slow, weak, or can’t connect at all.

1. Reboot Your Console and Router

Any type of network troubleshooting should start with restarting all affected computers. By doing this, you can solve many temporary problems, which is a quick step to get out of the predicament in the first place.

Restart the network by restarting the router (and modem, if you have a separate device). To do this, simply unplug the power cord, wait a while, and then plug it in again. There may be a power button on the back of your particular network device, you don’t need to unplug it to use it.

After the network device starts the backup, restart the PS4. To do this, press and hold the PS button on the controller to open the quick menu. In this menu, open the power section and select Restart PS4. Make sure you don’t choose to go into sleep mode; this is a low power state that does not completely shut down the system.

After everything restarts, try to connect your PS4 to WiFi again. If it doesn’t work, make sure you can go online on your computer or other device. If PS4 can’t connect to WiFi, please continue, but everything else is okay. If it is not online, you need to troubleshoot the home network.

2. Run the PS4 Network Test

If a simple reboot didn’t fix your PS4 Wi-Fi issues, you can run a built-in network test to get more information about where the problem lies. On your PlayStation 4, head to Settings > Network > Test Internet Connection.

This will run a short test and display Successful or Failed for each of the following in succession:

• Obtain IP Address: Whether your system successfully received an IP address from your router. If it fails, your PS4 is not connecting to the router properly.
• Internet Connection: This succeeds as long when your PS4 is able to reach the internet. If it fails, the issue lies between your router and the internet.
• PlayStation Network Sign-In: Checks whether your system can reach the PlayStation Network. If it fails, you may be on a network that blocks PlayStation Network. While less likely, the issue may also lie on Sony’s end.

If your computer passes these three checks, your PS4 is properly online. In addition, you may want to test a specific game to make sure that all of its online features are working.

There are also a few additional data points from this test that can help you troubleshoot:

• NAT Type: PlayStation uses a confusing system where your NAT type can be Type 1, Type 2, or Type 3.
  • Type 1 means that your system is connected directly to the internet, which isn’t often the case. Type 2 means that you’re connected to the internet through a router, which is what most people will see. And Type 3 means that your system can’t use all the ports necessary, which often causes instability.
• Connection Speed (Download): This is an estimate of how fast your PS4 can download data. If your PS4 Wi-Fi is slow, it will likely reflect here.

Now that you have a better idea of what your problem is, let’s look at various steps to fix bad Wi-Fi on PS4.

3. Confirm Your Network Wi-Fi Details

If your PS4 won’t connect to your router at all, the Obtain IP Address check will fail. In these cases, you should make sure you have the right Wi-Fi network information set.

Go to Settings > Network > Set Up Internet Connection > Use Wi-Fi > Easy and run through the steps again to reconnect to your network. As you do, pay attention to make sure you enter the Wi-Fi password correctly, as an incorrect password is a common mistake.

As a possible solution, you can also try to change the DNS settings to use a third-party provider instead of the ISP’s server. To do this, choose custom instead of simple. You don’t need to modify any other options, so select Automatic for the IP address setting, and then select No assignment for the DHCP host name.

On the DNS configuration screen, select Manual and enter the information of the alternate DNS server. If you’re not sure what you want, you can use the primary DNS of 8.8.8.8 and the secondary DNS of 8.8.4.4 for Google’s public DNS servers.

Confirm this, then choose Automatic for the MTU Settings and Do Not Use for Proxy Server. From there, you can test the connection again.

4. Improve Weak Wi-Fi Reliability on PS4

While Wi-Fi is convenient, it’s subject to many forms of interference. If your PS4 is having trouble staying connected to your network, or experiences slow speeds, you can improve a weak connection by taking the following steps:

• Move your PS4 closer to your router: The further your system is from the router, the weaker the WiFi signal will be. If possible, physically bring the two of you together. You can see how strong your PS4’s WiFi signal is at Settings > Network > View Connection Status; look for the Signal Strength entry.
• Reduce interference: WiFi does not penetrate solid metal, concrete, and other thick surfaces well. If there are microwave ovens, baby monitors, or other similar devices that use the same frequency nearby, you may also experience reduced WiFi performance. Try to keep the line as direct as possible between the PS4 and the router, and move other equipment away.
• Limit other device usage: When other devices in your home use bandwidth, your PS4’s network performance will suffer. Try turning off other computers, mobile phones, and gaming systems, especially when they are downloading large files, streaming 4K media, or similar content.

If you suspect this is the problem, follow other tips to speed up your WiFi connection. If you are using VPN on PS4, it is better to disable it as this will create additional overhead.

Similarly, you might want to know if your PS4 can connect to the 5 GHz band on the router. It turns out that the PS4 Slim and PS4 Pro can use the 5 GHz band, but the original PS4 model cannot. Compared to 2.4GHz, 5GHz connections are generally faster and don’t suffer from too much interference, but they don’t spread out as much.

If your PS4 is near the router and you have a compatible model, it is worth trying the 5 GHz band on the router. However, keep in mind that the 5GHz band on your home WiFi and 5G internet service are not the same. 5G is the standard for mobile Internet services; if you have a PS4, you should be able to connect any PS4 to a 5G connection.

5. Make Sure the PlayStation Network Is Available

PlayStation Network may not work, which will prevent you from connecting to their online services. Although it’s rare, it does happen, so it’s worth checking (especially if your PlayStation Network login failed earlier).

Check Sony’s PSN status page to make sure everything has the green light. You can also do this on your PS4 at Settings > Network > View Status of PlayStation Network Services.

If PSN is down, you don’t have much choice other than waiting until Sony fixes the problem.

6. Review Your Router Settings

If you’re still having trouble, your router settings may prevent your PS4 from connecting. Likewise, if you get NAT Type 3 in the connection test, you may need to forward the port on the router so that your PS4 can communicate normally.

Make sure not to restrict PS4 router traffic. For example, there may be parental control or MAC filtering. Use Type 3 NAT, or if you only encounter problems in certain games, you may need to forward the correct port on your router.

Please refer to Sony’s support page on PS4 network test to find out which ports should be forwarded for the PSN service and refer to the game-specific documentation to find the corresponding ports. Note that if you encounter this problem on your school or work network, the organization may have blocked the PSN. Unless you manage the network, there is nothing you can do.

7. Try Connecting to Your Router’s Guest Network

Although this sounds strange, some GameFAQ threads found it useful to them, especially on the original PS4 model. If your PS4 cannot reliably connect to your WiFi, please try to enable the guest network on your router and connect to it on your PS4.

After setting, the connection is not possible at first. To fix it, you need to open the Internet Browser application on PS4 and log in with the guest network password. Then you should be online as usual.

Depending on your router, the guest network may activate it after a period of time. Keep this in mind so that you will not be kicked out of a massively multiplayer game.

8. Connect With an Ethernet Cable

When the WiFi signal of your PS4 is too weak or not working at all, hope that one or more of the above fixes will help, but a wired connection is always better. Using an Ethernet cable to connect the PS4 to the router will bring a more stable connection and faster data speed.

If possible, we recommend using a network cable to connect to your PS4. Even if you can’t do it in the long run, try to connect with an Ethernet cable and check for PS4 system updates, which may solve your WiFi problem.

If this is not a viable option for you, try a power cord adapter, which runs an Ethernet connection through the power cord in your home. Just plug one device into the wall next to the router and the other one near the console.

Your PS4’s Bad Wi-Fi Connection Is Fixed

Now you know what to do when your PS4 WiFi stops working or becomes unreliable. Hope you can make some small changes to fix it and be able to play it online again. If there is no other effect, you may need to perform a factory reset on the PS4, but this is the last step.

Once your PS4 is back online, you can enjoy many services on the PlayStation Network again.

Related: How to Know if Someone Else Is Using Your PSN Account