Snapturtle

Lately I’ve noticed that downloading things from PSN has been extremely slow. Now, I did recently switch out my wifi router for a different brand, but researching on Google about this issue has turned up a lot of scary results.

In order to really test out if PS3 wifi is slow or if it was my network, I set out to do some testing. I used speedtest.net for all my tests including those run from within the PS3 web browser. Be sure to set your PS3 web browser home page to be a blank page as you need every drop of memory available or else the browser will crash during the testing.

PS3 WiFi via Airport Extreme base station with 80% signal strength

And it’s complete garbage. This was actually faster than what I tested over the weekend when I was only getting 1500 kb/s which prompted more testing and a solution.

PS3 WiFi via Airport Express repeater with 100% signal strength

I used an Airport Express plugged in next to the PS3 and set it up to repeat the main WiFi signal from the Airport Extreme. This basically boosted my PS3’s signal strength from 80% to 100% when the repeater was online.

The results aren’t stellar by any means but show a 30% improvement in speed. Why? Signal strength is really the only thing I could see that changed. The WiFi technology deployed by Apple is the same across their products so it’s not a WiFi base station issue from what I can tell.

PS3 Ethernet via Airport Express repeater

I then decided to plug the PS3 directly into the repeaters ethernet port thus removing the use of the PS3 wifi card altogether. To the PS3 software I’m effectively using a wired connection when in truth I’m still using wireless.

And this is when it hit me. Sony has either A) put a crap WiFi card in the PS3 and/or B) use a crap driver to control it. Plugging into “ethernet” gave me the output I would have expected via WiFi. I pay for fast service and this is what shows in the test.

MacBook Pro WiFi via Airport Extreme base station

Finally just to show I’m not crazy, I tested my MacBook Pro running wirelessly directly to the Airport Extreme base station with no repeater.

It came back even faster.

If any PS3 owners would like to try running some of these tests please do so and post your results here. In order to get the image file off the PS3, be sure to save it from the web browser then transfer it via a USB thumb drive or camera memory card.

Sony, fix your sh*t. This is ridiculous. People have been complaining about this since the PS3 launched yet it’s been ignored. A modern piece of technology should not have such craptastic WiFi speeds.

Tagged: ps3 Sony WiFi broken