Router is Blocking Steam: What To Do?
Think your router might be blocking Steam? This is a common problem when at a hotel, vacation rental or temporary apartment—but even at home, a properly configured router can prevent Steam from connecting to the internet.
In this article, we’ll show you what to do in such cases, whether you have control over the router or not.
Table of Contents
What is blocking Steam’s access to the Internet?
Your router blocking Steam can happen either intentionally or unintentionally. Unintentional blocking can happen when there is no express intention to cut access to Steam, but some other application happens to use the same ports.
Of course, the corresponding ports may have been purposefully blocked to restrict your use of Steam.
Sometimes, however, this type of blocking doesn’t happen due to the router but because of an additional firewall connected to the router.
How can you use Steam despite blocked access?
With the aid of a VPN, doing this is very easy and sometimes free of charge. First, download our free VPN client for the operating system of your choice:
Next, simply start the installation process and follow the onscreen instructions. Once the installation is complete, you can connect to the Internet via protected VPN connection, and Steam should have no problems connecting to the Internet despite being blocked by your router or firewall.
Is using a VPN to bypass router blocks legal? What does Valve say about it?
Note: The following does not constitute legal advice and we make no claim to its accuracy or completeness.
Using a VPN to protect your privacy is perfectly legal and you will not face criminal consequences in this regard. However, it is quite possible that you may violate the terms of use of the Wi-Fi connection provided to you by someone, which could theoretically result in account suspension or similar, although this is extremely unlikely in practice.
As far as Valve is concerned, you shouldn’t have any problems using a VPN connection with Steam. However, it’s better not to pretend that you are in a region where the prices for games on Steam are cheaper than in your actual home region and go on a shopping spree. Such behavior could result in the suspension of your Steam account.
However, if you really only use the VPN connection so that Steam is no longer blocked by your router or firewall, you need not worry about this.
Conclusion
While it’s annoying to discover your router or firewall is blocking Steam, the solution to this problem is fortunately quite simple and even free thanks to Shellfire’s VPN.
Incidentally, with a VPN, you also protect your online privacy, which is especially important on public WiFi networks, and it gives you a powerful tool to effectively bypass geo-blocking.
Featured image: BagoGames/flickr
