The new Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Season 5 update is nearly upon us, and with that comes a pretty hefty update file that may be a slow download, depending on your internet. Even with a new PS5 or Xbox Series X console, these downloads can take a while.
Call of Duty is infamous for its large updates, with Warzoneand Modern Warfareupdates regularly needing over 30GB of space throughout 2020.
While Activision, Infinity Ward, and Treyarch have all taken strides in optimising the future update sizes (optimisation that has required larger downloads first), things can still go wrong.
If your Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War update is taking forever to download, and you want to speed up the download times, here are our suggestions for both PlayStation and Xbox.
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How to speed up download for Black Ops Cold War Season 5
Quick downloads are essential when playing Call of Duty. Waiting for an update to download can be a frustrating experience, especially if your friends have already downloaded the update.
With Season 5 bringing new weapons, the new Double Agent mode, and a bunch of new maps, you won't want to be stuck looking at a download bar for long.
Here's what you can try:
Close all other games and applications
As tempting as it can be to waste your waiting times with Netflix, Fortnite, Apex Legends, or any other streaming apps/games, this may be harming your update speeds.
These applications will most require some type of internet connection. As they are being actively used, your console will allocate them bandwidth priority rather than your Call of Duty update.
Closing these apps or games will ensure your PlayStation or Xbox's internet use is solely for the Call of Duty update.
This also goes for other updates. The Black Ops Cold War update goes live around the same time as theModern Warfare and Warzone updates. We'd recommend pausing these other downloads if you want to play Black Ops Cold War first. Indeed, Activision seems to have realised this problem, staggering the release of its Black Ops Cold War/Warzone updates over a couple of days so players don't have to download both simultaneously.
READ MORE: Call of Duty: Warzone PS5 upgrade release date
Use Rest Mode
Even when applications are closed, your console will still require internet bandwidth to function. This is used to check new messages, notifications, or updates, for example, and will be given priority over your Black Ops Cold War update.
Putting your PlayStation or Xbox console into Rest Mode will prevent your device from frequently using the internet to perform these checks. However, as it is still technically on, the download will continue, and at an improved speed.
To enable this feature, we'd also recommend ensuring the Stay Connected to the Internet feature of your console is turned on.
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Use an Ethernet Cable
One of the simplest solutions to all your gaming internet problems is to use a wired connection. Ethernet cables use a direct connection to your router to increase internet stability and speed that could be affected by distance when using Wi-Fi.
With a new Black Ops Cold War update on its way, now is the perfect excuse to set up your wired connection- whether with just an ethernet connection, or a powerline adaptor too.
If you don't have an ethernet cable available, even moving your setup closer to your Wi-Fi router could at least temporarily solve some of your internet issues for long enough to download the update.
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Avoid downloading Black Ops Cold War update at peak times
If you're among the select few who can patiently wait rather than immediately downloading the latest update, postponing your download could be beneficial.
When Activision first releases its updates, players often wreak havoc on servers, which could impact your download time. Indeed, even if you download the game, the server issues could mean you might not even be able to play.
The same issues may happen - depending on where you live and your internet setup - when downloading at peak times. The internet rush hour peaks between 7-11 PM, and so setting the update to download after that time (eg overnight) could speed it up.
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