The Nintendo Switch is a revolutionary gaming system that allows you to play on a conventional TV, or take the game console with you when you are on the move. Like other modern gaming systems, the Switch uses a WiFi connection to deliver new content and cloud save your games. Gone are the days of the original NES, where the company used a gold-colored cartridge with an embedded battery to create a saved game. Depending on your connection, WiFi can make or break your gaming experience.
However, what you may not know is Nintendo doesn’t optimize your DNS settings. You can help supercharge your gaming experiences, though, optimizing it yourself.
What is DNS?
DNS stands for the Domain Name System. While it used to be more technical, changing your DNS on modern gaming systems is easy. When you enter a web address like VPNFan.com into a browser, it translates that information into numbers called an IP address. All web-enabled devices have IP addresses based on the network they are using and the location. Changing your DNS settings on a device will help you optimize your connection or give you access to other regions.
If you know what to look for, you can easily find public DNS servers to use online. We’ll give you the primary and secondary addresses for the top options in the list below.
- Google Public DNS – 8.8.8.8 – 8.8.4.4
- Cloudflare – 1.1.1.1 – 1.0.0.1
- OpenDNS – 208.67.222.222 – 208.67.220.220
- Quad9 – 9.9.9.9 – 149.187.251.67
There are others, but that gives you an excellent place to start. Now, where do you put those numbers?
How to configure your Nintendo Switch DNS settings
As we mentioned, Nintendo makes changing your DNS settings easy. Follow these steps.
- Open the Home Screen and go to the Settings icon.
- Now, go to Internet and choose Internet Settings.
- Go to Wi-Fi Network and select Change Settings.
- Under the DNS Settings heading, choose Manual.
- Next, go to the Primary and Secondary DNS fields, and enter the numbers.
- Finally, click Save and you are all finished.
Why make the change?
Over time, Nintendo Switch went from just being a game console to a place where you can use streaming services. These include apps for services like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and more. That makes it easy to watch your favorite service while away from home on the small screen or broadcast it to the big screen with the push of a button. That said, there are several reasons why you may want to change your DNS settings. If you have a connection issue or you see the Nintendo Switch DNS connection error code 2810-1006 or you see the message “Nintendo Switch could not perform DNS name resolution”, you can quickly solve that by manually changing your DNS settings.
Accessing geo-blocked content
These days, all streaming services are region-specific. Even if the service is international, like Netflix or Amazon, each area has its own library. If you are traveling abroad and want to access a US-only service like Hulu or YouTube TV, you’ll need to have the DNS server numbers to get it to work. Fortunately, some VPN providers like ExpressVPN offer a Smart DNS service to help you access the geo-blocked content. Then, you can watch what you want to, no matter where you are.
Increased speeds
Game lag can become a real issue since games access the internet quite a bit now. No one wants to be in the middle of a game, match, or race and have lag issues. You can say the same if you are streaming a show or movie and start buffering. If you are in a busy area, you’ve probably had that happen. Sadly, if it happens once, it will usually happen again quickly. It can continue until the server load drops, or you change the DNS. Your goal is to find a DNS server that doesn’t have as many people. Then, you should be able to game or stream your favorite shows intensely. Changing your DNS will help you in both of those cases.
We hope this guide helps you see how easy it is to change the DNS settings on your Nintendo Switch, and please feel free to share this post with your friends. That way, you can all get the best possible gaming and streaming experiences.