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Forum Discussion
xerkon
4 years agoHelpful | Level 5
Re: Slow upload speeds on Windows 7
Dropbox is uploading at about 1/10th of the speed of my upload connection. I ran an Ookla speed test while dropbox was uploading and you can see my results below. The speed test says I have a 9 MBps upload speed and dropbox is uploading at 1 MBps. Any ideas?
I'm using the desktop installation on Windows 7.
- mail3dexterNew member | Level 2
The reason could be many things. Let's start with the question, was the Ookla speed test server at the same distance as Dropbox's server? The answer to that would be maximum time no as speed test servers are hosted very near to customers in ISP network. They do not give real information like say you have 10Mbps connection, but will you really get 10Mbps once you cross your ISP's network? The answer is NO. No ISP will guarantee that once traffic leaves their network. So thats the connectivity part.
Secondly, it is latency that would be very harsh on data transfer speed. Even if you have 10Gbps connection, you can transfer at very low speeds because of how TCP works (a widely protocol used to transfer data). You can search these terms if you want to understand them in deep: "calculate tcp throughput with latency" or "tcp speed calculator according to delay".
Third, different speeds for different paths. I have seen this in the past many times. In your question, you have not mentioned your actual/bought/committed internet speed. I have seen ISPs who would grant you different speeds based on different destinations. Like, for Google/Youtube, they might have a dedicated connection with them and since they pay for that connection at a almost fixed rate every month, they want to utilise that connection as much as possible. So they provide uncapped/more speeds as compared to the committed speeds. I have seen connections with 10Mbps committed speeds getting 100Mbps on youtube to se videos and on microsoft to download windows/office updates.
So these were some of the reasons you can get different speedtest results. You cannot do apple to apple comparison between different destinations.
If you want to dig deeper into this, we can do that but before that, I would need few more information like whats your committed/bought internet speed, who is your ISP (My experience in networking domain helps me in knowing ISPs behaviour and how their service would be), etc.
- unitiakashNew member | Level 2
Hi team,
I am having issue with uploading files to drobox and when i check speed test that are within specificationMy Isp is not able to address the issue as we have tried uploading via browser and desktop app as well on computer but the uploading speed is typically slow
I have confirmed all the settings are intact in my drobox as the bandwidth is not limited and all other settings are intact
Now what troubleshooting my isp should do to address the issue as the speed test and tracert everything is within specification and can not see any packet loss as well
Thanks in advance
- MeganDropbox StaffHi unitiakash, welcome to our Community!
Let me ask, is it possible that a proxy, VPN, firewall, security software, or even your ISP/router is blocking communication to the Dropbox domains?
Also, does this happen with all of your files?
Let me know more! - tiffany31New member | Level 2
I'm faced this problem before, my upload speed goes 8-10 kbps then i use a vpn and turns in mbps , try a vpn .
- Jul1ansNew member | Level 2
I solved the slow uplaod issue by getting a VPN and changing my location. I tried so many things and nothing worked, not sure why this works but it does!
- jlackeyNew member | Level 2
I have a Gigbit connection connection at work, and my PC is is very fast, yet Dropbox is very slow to sync, and my 3TB business account will take a week to sync! I have not limited speeds in the Dropbox app.
See attached screenshot.
- MeganDropbox Staff
Hey jlackey, let's see what we can find on this!
Can you let me know the version of the Dropbox app installed on your device?
If you hover your mouse over the little Dropbox icon, it should show: xxx.3.xxx or xxx.4.xxx.
If I were you, I'd also try changing the bandwidth to "no limit". Have you tried that?
Keep me posted!- jlackeyNew member | Level 2
Now it works. Currently at 245 mbps on wireless.
I have another PC on the same connection (hardwired) and it is always fast with DB (up to 700mbps)
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