Hello to all deck users, I wanted to ask a question here: I’m about to go abroad for work and I’ve heard reports that the deck doesn’t like to work on WiFi networks other than the one it was initially configured for, which I find strange, as I replicated my home internet with the same user and it went through my cell phone’s hotspot.

But when I arrive at my hotel, will I have problems connecting to an unknown WiFi even with the passwords given by the hotel?

Thanks

#wifi #steamdeck

  • mrbaby@lemmy.world
    19·
    5 months ago

    There’s a chance public/hotel/airplane WiFi will have what’s called a captive portal that will want you to agree to the terms and conditions or pay money to whoever owns the router. This is usually done by redirecting normal web traffic to a page with the tos, but if you’re not browsing the Internet and are instead, say, only using steam, it can cause issues. If that happens pop into desktop mode, open Firefox, go to any website and see if you get redirected to the hotel’s portal.

    At least it used to be that you sometimes needed to open a browser. Maybe technology has advanced past that now days.

    Regarding using other networks - never had a problem, at least not when visiting family and friend’s places

    • eek2121@lemmy.world
      9·
      5 months ago

      Nah, the deck will pop up the portal automatically in most cases.

      I have never had an issue with alternate wifi networks, traveling or not.

    • MajorHavoc@programming.dev
      2·
      5 months ago

      At least it used to be that you sometimes needed to open a browser. Maybe technology has advanced past that now days.

      If anyone does run into this (since captive portals vary in their awfulness), it should be solveable by rebooting the SteamDeck into “Desktop Mode” by holding down the power button and picking the option.

  • JoeKrogan@lemmy.world
    10·
    5 months ago

    The deck has worked fine for me in multiple countries without issue on wifi.

    The WiFi thing is just to make sure you go online before you go on the plane and put your deck into offline mode. Then means a game like GTA can log in to the rockstar servers and once it does you can go into offline mode, put the deck in sleep mode and board the plane and play it on the plane.

    It mainly has to do with online games. On planes I tend to play emulated games to get max battery life.

    I sometimes use my phones hotspot to put the deck into offline mode in I’m playing in the airport waiting to board