I took the PlayStation Portal on a trip — and I’ll never do it again

[admin]

After enjoying the PlayStation Portal from the comfort of my apartment, I took this remote play device into the outside world — and things didn't go well.

I took the PlayStation Portal on a trip — and I’ll never do it again : Read more

 

[ThePortuGerMerican]

Hi,
I hope this might help everyone having issues connecting to their PS5 via remote play from outside their home.
Many routers block a lot of traffic coming from the outside in. This was also the case for me and I had to open a lot of ports in my router settings. Once done I had a much better experience playing remotely.
The port opening fixed it mostly for me.
Due to my ISPs DNS I had additional issues connecting to PSN (it worked but latency was really bad for PSN related traffic). A DNS server change (PlayStation Settings) to Google’s servers helped here. Since I have a very good and stable connection using remote play also from outside my home.

Hope this helps
Your PortuGerMerican

 

[lexnoir]

It sounds like the author may not be a true techy? If you got a connection error at work my first guess is some sort of filtering or blocking by their firewall or filtering software. As an Information Technology Executive I can tell you my department and many other IT departments block certain traffic (ex., Netflix, porn, etc.), to ensure staff aren't violating workplace rules. Because IT departments are also keenly aware that you can bypass those restrictions with a VPN, we often block VPN protocols as well. This also happens on free publicly accessible WiFi.

I suggest trying again with a high-speed internet connection but one that may not have traffic blocked/limited. Try a Hotspot for example. Then let us know the results. I've been on the fence about a PS Portal so I'd love to hear your results.

 

[Larry_J]

Well, in Sony's own words, this is a device intended to be used in your home. And to use Sony's proprietary streaming technology, it needs to be in the same room.

It CAN, but used outside of the home, but again, that's not it's true intended purpose. It's streaming device, not a console. If it were intended to be an anywhere anytime device, it would have been a Vita 2.

If you have to be a "true tecky" or need to go through all these extra steps, then that's not it's intended purpose, as stated by Sony. Outside of the home, I've never seen or heard of any true success stories of streaming from a home device. You want that, to play on the go with a handheld, just get a Steam Deck or a Switch. Unless all you want to do is play on the couch in the same room as the PS5, I wouldn't get a Portal.

 

[slikhedstrong]

while i get this is tech journal, this review is solid.

the two other comments offer deep technical troubleshooting and creative problem solving that requires much more fundamental gizmo knowledge than 99.99% of the device's target market will have.

if tech journo can't get it to work at tech journal homebase without fiddling with their wifi settings, if you have to travel into the firmware and jiggle DNS... to a layman it might as well not work.

if you have no problem troubleshooting gear and confidence in your skill, that's for you, and is such a special case it doesn't belong in the review.

i find it audacious to question the bonafides.

the other negative aspects of this device is the need for the ps5 to be on when you're out.

it's fairly useless. must use at home while 5 is on... when i could just be playing myself?

 

[RandomNPC]

Solution: Travel with the Portal AND your PS5

 

[Cam H]

Maybe it's a UK thing but I travel for work all over the USA and always have my Portal with me. Never have I had an issue connecting to my home PS5 on my Portal. Yes most wifi connections won't allow me to connect but I use my phone hot spot all the time and never have a disconnect or lag.

 

[lexnoir]

I think you all missed the point he was trying to be creative and work outside the intended use case. I'm confident it would work under the right circumstances. But I guess only us tech folks get that because we understand the technology and are often "hacking" workarounds that allow us to do things others might not. I applaud the effort and still think this would work under the right conditions. I understand not everyone wants to fiddle and that's OK. But some of us like to push the boundaries.

 

[Justtrynabehelpful]

I think the unresponsive controls are a bug. The same thing happened when I first used it somewhere far from home. I was very disappointed when I got no response, and that was when I dived into setting up port forwarding. After doing all of that, my portal connected much faster, and the connection was stable, but my buttons were still not responding. When I got home, they were still not responding. I toggled the controller's light on/off and also the vibration intensity. This fixed the problem for me, and now I can use it outside of my home and the buttons respond as they should. Try toggling the controller settings next time they are unresponsive.