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Extremely slow downloads and views

I have an extremely fast gigabit connection, and can download from most websites at near about 100MB/s. However, when I try to download folders from Dropbox, it barely downloads at 1 MB/s if I'm lucky. This seems to be something new since I was able to download some content a couple of weeks ago at the speed I'd expect to be able to. Is my account being throttled or something? Even views of the content in these folders are slow, with each image taking minutes to load at a time.

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Danny13

I do not know if this is your problem, but I suffered the same for weeks and what I found was that I’d switched on smart sync or something like that, and given authority to sync thousands of files to my laptop in the background. It did what you described and I couldn’t then immediately sync files I had just added, as it was busy syncing thousands of others and took ages to sync just a couple of files very slow.

anuragrb

Unfortunately not. To make things weirder, sometimes the speed will burst up to the max bandwidth of my connection and then go back down to below 1 MB/s. It really feels like some weird form of throttling.

Megan

Hi @anuragrb, let's jump right into this!

If I understand this correctly, you're using the website in order to download your content, and preview some of your files when you notice the slow downloads, am I right?

Your account shouldn't be throttled, as this isn't something that happens with specific Dropbox accounts, unless the site is down for everyone. Do you use a specific browser when this happens?

If I were you, I'd try to use a different browser, clear the cache and use an incognito tab on my current one, just to see if the behavior there is the same. Can you give it a go?

Keep me posted!

Peter M.42

Yes!!! Extremely slow since a few months and more slow to not usable since the update for Mac-Ventura (moving DropBox to a secure place ... BS!!). No network activity by DropBox FileProvider for 20-30 minutes, than 1-3 minutes activity and no activity for again 20-30 minutes.

I need my files offline, the online is the default what makes me angry.

Waiting for 10GB since 4 hours now. Not usable.

Gene Wayne

Hello! I faced this problem, Dropbox does not upload one video file (10-30 GB) faster than 15-25 megabits per second, although my upload speed is 100 megabits per second. If I upload a file to Dropbox Replay, the speed there is about 80-100 megabits per second.

Hannah

Hey @Peter M.42, I understand you're referring to the desktop app and not the website.

Can you check the Dropbox application preferences, to make sure the bandwidth used is not limited?

Hannah

Hey @Gene Wayne, thanks for letting us know about this.

If you quit the Dropbox app and then relaunch it, do you see any difference in behavior?

Gene Wayne

Hi @Hannah !
Restarted, nothing has changed. This has been for a long time, It didn't bother me before, but now I work with large video files and it is very unpleasant. Dropbox Transfer and Dropbox Web also upload 20-25 megabits per second, but Dropbox Replay, Frame.IO, MEGA upload almost 100 megabits.

Recently, I had to use another service (MASV) to transfer the file faster, screenshot below.

Megan

Hi @Gene Wayne, it's interesting that you notice this behavior on both the app, and the website.

Do you have any proxy, VPN, firewall, security software, or even ISP/router settings that could be restricting traffic to the following Dropbox domains?

If so, could you temporarily disable any antivirus or firewalls you may have running on your computer and try again?

HREP

After using Dropbox daily to deliver our company's product to our clients, we have been experiencing extremely slow upload speeds just recently. I've checked all my settings (haven't changed anything on my PC, as far as I know), and I've googled everything under the sun. I can't find anything on my end that is not set to optimize upload speeds. Yet, I am experiencing times when it might take 2 hours to upload what should take less than a minute. Is there something new going on with Dropbox? If this persists, I will find it necessary to cancel our account and use a different cloud service, so can someone please help? (Support personnel had no solution, when I called them)

Hannah

Hey @HREP, thanks for reaching out to us.

I moved your post to this relevant thread, so be sure to check it for any info that might seem helpful to you.

Also, can you please give us the ticket number for your communication with our support team, so we can look into it?

Gene Wayne

Hi @Megan !
No, I don't use any of the above. I checked on a second computer, one 20gb video file upload is not faster than 30 megabits per second. But uploading to Dropbox Replay or MASV is much faster. Maybe it has to do with different technology of upload?
But the download speed is good

Megan

Hi @Gene Wayne, and just to clarify, you've noticed these slow uploads mainly with the app, or the website too?

Have you tried using a different network -if possible- just to track the behavior there?

HREP

Ticket# 21471036

I also tried removing the Dropbox app from my PC and reinstalling it. Speed remains horrible.

Gene Wayne

@Megan Dropbox App, Dropbox Web and Dropbox Transfer do not load faster than 30 Mbps. Only Dropbox Replay uploads my footage well, 80–100 Mbps.

Okay, I'll try to check elsewhere. Right now I'm working at a desktop workstation, but I'll figure something out.

HREP

Timing is the same as in my situation. I have checked all of the settings, and I can't find anything that would explain it with the setup. Looking for Dropbox to identify and address the problem. My subscription comes up for renewal in a couple of months, and I'm already making the transition to another data delivery service, out of immediate necessity.

Megan

Hi @HREP, thanks for the ticket number reference!

I was able to locate your ticket, and I can see that the advanced agents are working with you on this case, in order for you to come to a conclusion. And hopefully find what's triggering the situation that you mentioned.

Also @Gene Wayne, it'd be amazing if you could check that, just so we can exclude this possibility too. However, if the issue remains, I would suggest that you contact our Support team directly.

They have access to more account-specific info, and they'd be able to check a few things with you. If you don't have a paid account, let me know and I'll open a ticket on my end for you.

Thanks!

Gene Wayne

@Megan Thanks for the answer, I have a paid account and I'll write to tech support.