Can i play offline? Steam is killing my 40GB Monthly Hotspot plan

[Reggie VSD64]

I have T-Mobile Phone & i'm using Hotspot from my Phone to my Valve Steam Deck.
i downloaded a few games, 40GB here, 17GB there,,,etc...In just a few days i exceeded my 40GB monthly plan and now it slows down to 600 kbps...which is freekn slow. Is there any way after i download a game i can turn wift off on Deck? some games won't let me play unless i'm connected...I wish the Steam Deck had a SIM CARD SLOT, then that will solve my problems...lol

[Mahjik]

Games that support offline play, can be played once you disable wifi and/or set the Deck to offline. However, if the title requires internet connectivity for any reason, Valve cannot do anything themselves about that.

[class101 [OLED deck]]

Your huge mistake was to download on a data plan, never download on metered plans

- swicth all your games to "Only updates when I run", this will get ride of all daily shader cache updates
- enable the steam setting "low bandwith mode" to save data when using Steam UI
- turn the metered option ON on the wifi adapter in "Configure Network Connections" of Desktop mode
- never download games from a metered plan but always from unlimited, or at least look at download sizes and set yourself limits, you can probably download a game like Terraria but dont grab one like Fallout 4 100GB

If you respect all that you should have enough of your hotspot plan to enjoy Steam without having to turn offline mode on, games dont use a lot a bandwith compared to streams

[macxtc]

I am an Over the Road Truck Driver.... I use Cricket (AT&T) as my ISP... Never hear from them and rarely have slowdowns... $55.00 a month completely unlimited speed and download (I sometimes hit over 3TB a month) ... I tether the PC thru my phone and use an app called:
PdaNet+ from the play store...

not only do I get higher speeds than most public "pay for" WiFi spots... there is an option in the App to hide what the data is being used by... (useful if you have limited HotSpot but unlimited regular data usage... THINK ABOUT IT!!!

[zenstrata]

Originally posted by Reggie VSD64:

I have T-Mobile Phone & i'm using Hotspot from my Phone to my Valve Steam Deck.
i downloaded a few games, 40GB here, 17GB there,,,etc...In just a few days i exceeded my 40GB monthly plan and now it slows down to 600 kbps...which is freekn slow. Is there any way after i download a game i can turn wift off on Deck? some games won't let me play unless i'm connected...I wish the Steam Deck had a SIM CARD SLOT, then that will solve my problems...lol

I suggest regular visits to your local coffee shop, McDonalds, Public Library, etc. and use their free WiFi to do your downloads.

[ClassicGOD]

You can limit your download speed in settings to 1Kb/s That will effectively stop any downloads by Steam but will leave you online for games that require connection.

[macxtc]

I tend to shy away from "always need a connection" games on my PC anyway ...
I sure won't play them on the Deck! .... but, that's just me...

[knoxvilles_joker]

stick to the older pre internet stuff and the connection need disappears. Anything that requires an internet connection to function is going to be problematic at best on iffy or slowed connections.

[macxtc]

Originally posted by knoxvilles_joker:

stick to the older pre internet stuff and the connection need disappears. Anything that requires an internet connection to function is going to be problematic at best on iffy or slowed connections.

There you go... That's Just what i'm saying!!!