Why is my Steam Deck downloading at like 2 MB/s when my WiFi is way faster? 

General Discussion
1

Probably a dumb question but I’m out of ideas.

My internet is 500 Mbps and speedtests on my phone/laptop are usually somewhere around 400-500. Steam Deck on the other hand will happily sit there downloading a game at like 1-3 MB/s.

Sometimes it jumps to 10-15 for a minute and then falls straight back down.

I’m on two rooms away from the router. WiFi icon doesn’t look terrible.

Is the Deck’s WiFi just bad or am I missing something obvious?

2

Did you run the speedtest on the Deck or are you telling us what your phone gets? Because your phone getting 450 Mbps means absolutely nothing about what the Deck is doing.

3

@Oklahoma_Boy Ok. Just ran one in desktop mode. Getting around 80-100 Mbps on the Deck.

4

now we actually have useful information)

5

Downloading to SD card?

6

@Ok-Opportunity2658 Internal SSD.

7

damn there goes my easy answer

8

Yeah, before changing random router settings I’d actually look at what’s around you. Run a WiFi analyzer on a laptop in roughly the same spot as the Deck. NetSpot is decent, or use whatever you’re comfortable with. Check the actual signal level, your channel, and how many neighboring networks are sitting on/around it.

9

Try another Steam download region too.