Steam won't connect to one WiFi network fully. Store loads, online games won't

[Boekon]

TLDR I have two phones with two Google Fi phone services. One's hotspot works perfectly. The other, newer phone's hotspot works okay in general, except for with Steam and Battle.net and I'd assume other game stores/launchers. These applications' stores will load like normal, but the application will generally say I'm not connected to the internet, making game downloads and connecting to online games impossible

If there's a more relevant forum to post this query too, please let me know.

I'm using Google Fi(Google's phone service)'s hotspot to connect to the internet because I live in a trailer park with crap WiFi available.

On my first phone and Google Fi account, a Samsung Note 10+ with their Unlimited Plus plan, the hotspot worked like a freaking charm. 5G connection in a low density area, minimum of 50MB/s down through Steam, no lag or packet loss in game.

I ran through the first 100GB of high speed service within about two weeks though, because I needed to download my active library of games on my new computer. I also needed to upgrade my phone, so I figured at least for a month or two, I'd just add a second line to my Fi account and have the leeway of 200GB total high speed.

My second phone(Moto G Stylus 5G)'s hotspot, however, will not connect to Steam, Battle.net, or other game stores/launchers I assume. It will, however however, connect to these applications' store pages, infuriatingly. I have a screenshot of the live Steam store homepage with the wonderful words of "NO CONNECTION" directly underneath. Also, the connection experiences excessive periods of packet loss while using Firefox (between 20 and 30 seconds of no discernible connection, maybe every 2 or 3 minutes; times are squidgy as this is the least of my concerns).

I've tried everything I can think to troubleshoot this issue, including submitting a help ticket. The help ticket was basically what I got from googling the issue plus some polite accompanying verbiage.

Reinstalling Steam multiple times, checking firewall ports, adding firewall ports, disabling the firewall altogether, making sure Google Fi's default VPN is off and trying it with it on, trying the connection from both ends with a third-party VPN (Surfshark) enabled, trying the connection with Private DNS Mode set to both off and automatic, trying the SIM card from one phone on the other (somehow Fi seems to have tied each account to each phone, so as far as I can tell the SIMs are functionally interchangeable), formatting the brand new phone, formatting the two-month-old desktop, buying an upgraded WiFi adapter for the desktop, and working with Fi's support team for 5ish hours total. And restarting each device probably two or three dozen times.

I'm stumped. Google Fi hasn't given up on the issue, and the problem has been "escalated to their engineering team," so at least they have that on Steam, but I'm not gonna hold my breath that this is their issue. The connection is amazing. Between 200-300MB/s down on speed test. I imagine the problem is something to do with the ports and firewall. I did my best to ensure those weren't the cause, but I'm only semi-confident it's not because I fully disabled the firewall and still had the issue. I'm a layman strictly speaking, so that porting screen is pretty Greek to me.

The only thing I can think of otherwise is it's some kind of hardware issue with the phone, but I find it hard to believe there's hardware on a phone that governs so specific an aspect of its hotspot connections.

I'm desperate for anything else I can troubleshoot. If anyone has any ideas, please help. Fi charges $10/GB of high speed service past the first 100, and my park's WiFi gets between 1MB/s and 50KB/s down depending on the day of week and time of day. Please please help :^(

(I posted this originally in Help and Tips and was referred here by a user there)

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Once connected you need to change Windows Network to Private. If on Public then Firewall will block most stuff when on Public rule set.

[Boekon]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

Once connected you need to change Windows Network to Private. If on Public then Firewall will block most stuff when on Public rule set.

Issue occurs at all firewall modes; Private, Public, and Off

[Bad 💀 Motha]

You don't mess with Windows Firewall, you click "Network & Internet Settings" after you connect to LAN/WIFI. Then change to Private.

If Games are not working as far as their Online Connection to various Servers/Services; then you have a Router Config related issue.

Disable Modem/Router Firewall or change it and lower its setting. Comcast/Xfinity for example have theirs set way to strict by default and as a result, Gaming can have issues.

Nothing to do with Windows Firewall as that is just a matter of App related permissions.

[Boekon]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

You don't mess with Windows Firewall, you click "Network & Internet Settings" after you connect to LAN/WIFI. Then change to Private.

If Games are not working as far as their Online Connection to various Servers/Services; then you have a Router Config related issue.

Disable Modem/Router Firewall or change it and lower its setting. Comcast/Xfinity for example have theirs set way to strict by default and as a result, Gaming can have issues.

Nothing to do with Windows Firewall as that is just a matter of App related permissions.

The network being labeled as public or private makes no difference on the issue.

How do I get to Modem/Router Firewall settings? All I can find is Windows Defender and Firewall. I don't really even have a router and I definitely don't have a modem, since I'm using my phone's hotspot

[_I_]

log into your router/modem

most are 192.168.x.1, or 10.0.0.1 depending on the device

[Boekon]

Originally posted by _I_:

log into your router/modem

most are 192.168.x.1, or 10.0.0.1 depending on the device

I don't have a modem or router. I'm using my phone's hotspot

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by Saber S. Johnsonson:

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

You don't mess with Windows Firewall, you click "Network & Internet Settings" after you connect to LAN/WIFI. Then change to Private.

If Games are not working as far as their Online Connection to various Servers/Services; then you have a Router Config related issue.

Disable Modem/Router Firewall or change it and lower its setting. Comcast/Xfinity for example have theirs set way to strict by default and as a result, Gaming can have issues.

Nothing to do with Windows Firewall as that is just a matter of App related permissions.

The network being labeled as public or private makes no difference on the issue.

How do I get to Modem/Router Firewall settings? All I can find is Windows Defender and Firewall. I don't really even have a router and I definitely don't have a modem, since I'm using my phone's hotspot

Yes it does. This label selection dictates which Firewall Rules WinOS applies

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by Saber S. Johnsonson:

Originally posted by _I_:

log into your router/modem

most are 192.168.x.1, or 10.0.0.1 depending on the device

I don't have a modem or router. I'm using my phone's hotspot

Then you need to configure the DNS. Try using the dns address for Google or Cloudflare for example.

I use my T-Mobile 5G hotspot all the time through my phone and bave zero issues playing any online games, downloading stuff, etc. via my Win10/11 PCs. But I had to force a different DNS for the Phone and PC. Also setup the hotspot and wifi connection to use static device MAC addresses not random ones.

[Boekon]

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

Originally posted by Saber S. Johnsonson:

I don't have a modem or router. I'm using my phone's hotspot

Then you need to configure the DNS. Try using the dns address for Google or Cloudflare for example.

I use my T-Mobile 5G hotspot all the time through my phone and bave zero issues playing any online games, downloading stuff, etc. via my Win10/11 PCs. But I had to force a different DNS for the Phone and PC. Also setup the hotspot and wifi connection to use static device MAC addresses not random ones.

As my original post states, I also have had good experiences generally using hotspots for gaming

I've not been able to find hotspot or wifi connection settings allowing me to change the server to static and not random. I've used the random and static VPNs that Surfshark offers to test this aspect, and that's made no impact on the issue either

[Bad 💀 Motha]

The settings I speak of are here, after WiFi connected.

https://ibb.co/Swrp7bK
https://ibb.co/9YtMh5C

You will notice:
DHCP vs STATIC
On static you can designate your DNS 1 and 2. Such as Google: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

Random MAC vs Device MAC

[gelowfish14]

I have the same exact issue as OP. Using my mobile hotspot, my laptop Steam client is able to load its stores and my library however it still says “no connection” at the bottom thereby preventing me from updating/downloading my cloud progress in games.

Posting here hoping to be updated for solutions.

[_I_]

are you using a vpn?

[AmaiAmai]

1. Verify that hotspot even works on the device in question so that you can rule out provisioning issues or a bad configuration on the network that is not allowing any internet connection to hotspot.

2. Device unlocked or sold by them? Rooted or not? If it's rooted it could be that the phone is missing updates required by your ISP for network compatibility. And without those they are restricting hotspot.

3. Only after proof that the hotspot works on the phone you are trying to use one other thing you might want to try is to test the connection with the firewall disabled, just in case you have an antivirus that is acting stupid because it cannot see a local network or network discovery is bugging out because the phone that doesn't work doesn't actually support a local network, instead it is just forwarding traffic -- or in other words there is no LOCAL SEVER on the phone, just a forwarding of traffic (limited implementation mentioned below)

Different android devices and their chips handle things like networking in different ways, depending on implementation. Examples of this variation can be seen in two tablets: Amazon Kindle Fire and Walmart's ONN tablets. Walmart's ONN tablets support a FULL local network and allow repeating, allowing you to root them and make a cheap VPN hotspot. You can also use those ONN tablets as a full router and discover + run other software like Moonlight over them, where you aren't going to be able to do that with a Kindle. Both are Android devices.

Even with the same CPU between phones this can vary and it is an issue in the Android space, but it's also why most people that want to utilise Android to its fullest always root and avoid devices that cannot be rooted. But that does not mean your issue will be solved if the problem is the cellular provider.

It's possible you will never find your answer and the only one that can answer it will be you cellphone provider (may be blocking or limiting your connection within your phone's automatic settings) or the manufacturer that may have applied an artificial limit or limited "network" implementation of the hotspot feature.

With the variation in software and hardware, some devices escape limitations like speed caps and other issues that phone providers apply, which might also explain the difference between both phones. It is also important to know if the phone is unlocked or locked. In USA locked phones belong to the cellphone providers and they may have restrictions on it that unlocked phones do not

I do not have the phone you have, but from all the Motorola phones I do have, unlocked and rooted (none are 5G though) I have never seen one support the full server capability like the ONN tablet described above. Maybe something changed, but I seriously doubt it.

[Talby]

If Starlink is available, it could be your solution. Worked great for a buddy of mine who is out in a very rural area.