Steam Deck Slow Downloads at under 2Mb/s (wifi and ethernet)

[Zugdar]

Just got the 512 Steam Deck in this week. I've been having a vert difficult time with getting downloads within Steam to break 2MB/s and averages below that on a 500/500 fiber connection. This is a huge pain as their is no stand-by download mode either. I've looked at many threads here and Reddit and have tried many proposed solutions. Other launchers like Epic and GoG via Herioc have 35-45MB/s downloads so its not the network nor a router issue as far as speed and connectivity go. I have a TP Link AX6000 router with Wifi6 with no piehole or anything like that. Here is what I have tried so far with no luck...

- Using Edge Browser based speed test on wireless network will have 300Mbps Dl and UL on the deck
- Bypassed wifi with a USB C adapter and Ethernet directly to the router (no change)
- Added a download limit with a very large amount (1.0 GB/s, no change)
- Changed DNS on router (no change)
- Download same game on Windows PC Steam which downloaded at full speed.
- Downloaded to SD card and internal storage (no change)
- Changed to 2.5 and 5 Gz wireless networks (no change)
- Hotspot my phone to 4G internet and can get 4-6 MS/s on a 40 MB/s speedtest result on connection but usually averages around 3.5
- Factory Reset system, tried beta and stable builds (no change).
- Added priority bandwith on router for the Deck (no change)

Other Notes

- I get cloud save error notifcation a lot (not sure if connected to this problem or not)
- Tried to change DNS in Steam Deck desktop mode but errors out saying it needs more info so not sure about that.

My only conclusion is a bug in the OS, or some sort of port or setting exclusive to Steam on the Deck. Looking for any suggestions. Thanks!

[TheJAYdynasty]

its the deck limiting download speeds and its all on steam and valve because every other wifi cable device i use doesnt have this issue and it effects all deck models from 64 and up.

[Prezidentas]

Originally posted by TheJAYdynasty:

its the deck limiting download speeds and its all on steam and valve because every other wifi cable device i use doesnt have this issue and it effects all deck models from 64 and up.

wifi cable?

[Sofa King Awesome]

My ISP at one point would throttle steam downloads. It was obvious because the download would start fast and drop off after a couple of minutes. Pausing the download and resuming would get me full speed, but again only for a couple of minutes. This was ~10 years ago, so I no longer have this problem, thanks to Tom Wheeler. You might try using a VPN to see if they are throttling you and then call them with the proof to ask them why they are throttling.

Who is your ISP? If they're throttling, we should name and shame

[ba0701]

That is strange, for sure. Are you downloading to the internal drive, or an SD card?

[Zugdar]

Originally posted by ba0701:

That is strange, for sure. Are you downloading to the internal drive, or an SD card?

Both.

[Zugdar]

Originally posted by Sofa King Awesome:

My ISP at one point would throttle steam downloads. It was obvious because the download would start fast and drop off after a couple of minutes. Pausing the download and resuming would get me full speed, but again only for a couple of minutes. This was ~10 years ago, so I no longer have this problem, thanks to Tom Wheeler. You might try using a VPN to see if they are throttling you and then call them with the proof to ask them why they are throttling.

Who is your ISP? If they're throttling, we should name and shame

I wondered that at one point which was why I tried to use my phone's 4G connection and tested on PC. Metronet (formally Jaguar) is my current provider.

[Mezzy]

I’m having the exact same issue.
Although 2 weeks ago I was regularly downloading at 30mb/s , then one night it ground to a halt. 2mb/s is the best I can manage now , normally it’s around 1.1 or lower.
It’s crazy . Tried all the same things the OP tried.

[Zugdar]

I have no idea why this worked but I got it solved.

I downloaded a backup of my router's settings, reset the whole thing to factory, restored the backup and it worked like it should. Seems silly as it was the exact configuration but at least it works.

[CameL]

3.3mbps here