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Forum Discussion
Dropbox not uploading/ uploading v slow
I have dropbox installed on multiple devices and they all work fine, except it has suddenly stopped uploading on my windows laptop.
I moved a load of photos off my phone onto dropbox on my laptop l...
I have a 5MB upload hard wired internet. Yet when I upload large files using my desktop application, I'm only getting 10-66kb transfer speeds. Why so slow? My ISP has checked and found nothing wrong with my service. Is Dropbox "throttling back" my upload speed? There are no other devises being used that would reduce band width. Please help!
I have an MS in Electrical Engineering, and a BS in computer science, and a BS in mathematics (Pretty much for free once you have MSEE) and work as a software engineer as my day job, but not for Dropbox.
However, since I have always hated the "argument from authority" and the "argument from credential" -- just assume I am the pixie dust spreader on the tilt-a-whirl, and take my arguments on their own merits, not mine :)
1. The problem is very LIKELY to be one or more of the following:
A. Software Issue on the Server Side, either at the AWS abstraction layer or the Dropbox abstraction layer. This could include how Dropbox has their AWS services configured.
B. Hardware Issue on the Dropbox side. (AWS) This could be, but not limited to, the following:
*Bandwidth Issues between S3 and EC2.
*Not enough CPU/MEM (not using enough EC2 instances, or not having large enough EC2 instances) to support ENCDEC and crypt/decrypt, web serving, authentication, indexing and other operations performed on the EC2 servers.
*Bandwidth Issues between EC2 and Amazon's backhaul to the internet. (This is unlikely, because I can get WAY faster speeds between my own EC2 instance in the same region)
2. The problem is very UNLIKELY to be one or more of the following:
A. Software Issues with the Client (Problem is present in Mac, Windows, and Linux Versions, and also presents itself using a browser)
B. Hardare Issue Client Side. (I have tested this with multiple pieces of my own hardware, and dropbox utilizes only modest percentages of system resources while uploading and downloading at full speed, indexing, etc)
C. Bandwidth Issue Client Side. (Have tested this with multiple ISPs, in different cities, and have verified the bandwidth to my own EC2 instance in the same AWS region as Dropboxes)
D. Bandwidth Issue on intermediary routes between ISP and AWS (See C)
That said, if you were hoping for a Dropbox software engineer to comment on this thread, prepare to be unsurprised and unimpressed. :)
UPDATE: A final note: This issue is happening with multiple people, using multiple devices, in multiple cities, on multiple operating systems, on multiple ISPs, uploading files of various sizes. It isn't GUARANTEED to be server side, but in terms of everyday language, it is very LIKELY on the server side.
