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Persistent issue: upload speeds are incredibly slow for years

Dropbox upload speeds are incredibly slow. Issue persists for years. Dropbox mods shut down discussions

I have seen complaints from many people that Dropbox upload speeds are incredibly slow. Often less than 50 kBps. I have experienced this issue intermittently for years, but over the past 3 months it has become a daily problem. Many temporary fixes have been posted, but I have yet to see any permanent solution. Common to most reports is that this issue doesn't affect other cloud services, so it's clearly a problem with Dropbox and not with people's caches, system preferences, browsers, or ISPs. I can confirm this: when my Dropbox uploads slow to a crawl, my Google Drive upload speeds are 100x faster for same file.

I have found that these steps will sometimes resolve the problem but it now recurs after a day or 2:
1. Quit dropbox app
2. plug ethernet cable into laptop
3. turn off laptop wifi
4. Restart modem & router
5. Restart dropbox app

This temporary fix seems to last a bit longer: logging out of dropbox, uninstalling and reinstalling dropbox, then logging back in. But this results in a very lengthy re-indexing process, so it's not something I want to be doing on a regular basis.

You can see a couple of the past discussions, starting 6 years ago:
https://www.dropboxforum.com/discussions/101001014/ridiculously-slow-upload-speeds/395342
https://www.dropboxforum.com/discussions/101001014/upload-app-sync-speed-is-very-slow-on-macos-/801174
Despite being marked "solved" this is an ongoing issue. The OP of the second discussion requested that mods remove the "solved" flag, but they refused and subsequently blocked new comments in the discussion: https://www.dropboxforum.com/discussions/101001014/upload-app-sync-speed-is-very-slow-on-macos-/801174/replies/824433

Dropbox staff person @Hannah has been involved in both these discussions so mods are definitely aware that this is an issue that has persisted for years.

What's going on? For many years Dropbox was a great service, but it really seems like they're neglecting their core service. Is the only solution moving to a different cloud storage service?

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Comments

Walter

Hi @alex g.33, thank you for sharing your feedback and sorry to hear that you've been experiencing slow upload speeds for the past few months.

To clarify, are you encountering slow upload speeds only when using the Dropbox desktop app, or does this also occur on the Dropbox website?

Since this has been an intermittent issue for some time, have you previously contacted our support team for assistance? If so, please share your ticket ID, and I'll gladly review it.

Additionally, have you tried using a different network or device, or performing an advanced reinstall to see if that resolves the issue?

To help me troubleshoot further, please provide the following information:
1. Your device's operating system version
2. The version of the Dropbox desktop app you're currently using
3. The web browser you're uploading from (if applicable).

Thank you for your cooperation, Alex. I appreciate your patience as we work to resolve this.

alex g.33

Hi @Walter the slow upload speed occurs with both the desktop app and with browser uploads (using Chrome).

I think I contacted support about this years ago, but I don't see the ticket.

Not sure whether I've tried the advanced reinstall.

1. OSX 10.13.6
2. Dropbox v193.4.5594
3. Chrome

Hannah

Hey @alex g.33, thanks for the info here.

I see you mentioned you're running the 193.4.5594 version of the app, but the current stable version out is 219.4.4463; can you try updating the app, to see if that helps?

alex g.33

Thanks @Hannah

Yeah I had to disable the dropbox auto-update a couple years ago because it kept installing a broken version.

Will updating the app result in a re-indexing of my dropbox folder?

Walter

Most likely yes, it will cause a re-indexing of your files in Dropbox, but it's essential that you update the app's version since the outdated version you're currently using might be causing syncing issues etc.

Let us know of any updates @alex g.33

thecargocultnz

This is absurd. They clearly have a major issue with macOS in general. Windows10 machine on the same network has great upload speeds and the Mac sucks.

I've just installed a fresh boot volume with latest macOS and latest dropbox tools. Unusable upload speeds within days.

I can't operate a business like this. Moving everything to google drive to see if I can make that work.

Adios dropbox.

Megan

Hey @thecargocultnz, sorry to hear about that!

If you're up for it, I'd like to do some troubleshooting just to see if everything is working the way it should, or find a way to help with this.

Would you mind sharing your device's current macOS, along with the Dropbox version that you have installed there? You can find the version by hovering your mouse over the little Dropbox icon on your menu bar, next to your WiFi.

What's the location of your Dropbox folder as we speak?

Keep me posted, and we'll take it from there!

thecargocultnz

everything is brand new last week. you can google the version if you like

thecargocultnz

dropbox folder is in the default location ~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox
Space on hard drive. Most files are either not synced or set to offline only.

I add a 275MB zip file and it takes a ridiculous time to upload - I gave up, installed 2 other cloud storage providers, uploaded to iCloud in about 3min....

And then eventually I noticed Dropbox had finished.
Of course, the new DB version gives no feedback at all about how much has uploaded - no progress at all!

It's literally unusable. If this is not fixed in the next 24 hours I have to cancel and move everything to another provider

thecargocultnz

223.4.4909 - up to date.
MacOS 15.4.1 (24E263)
MBP16 M1 Max

Megan

Hey @thecargocultnz, thanks for the info!

Do you face slow upload speeds only when using the Dropbox desktop app, or does this also happen when you're uploading through the Dropbox website too?

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

Can you check if the Dropbox bandwidth settings have any limits set?

thecargocultnz

Always using the desktop app on all of my computers. Yesterday when I was desperate, I tried the web interface and it was no better. But that's a sample size of 1, so dont put to much importance on it.

Windows machine on same network is incredibly fast to upload.

No proxy, VPN, firewall, security software or weird router setup - as I said -the windows machine is fine, and both my macOS15 and macOS12.5 systems have terrible DB upload speeds.

Dropbox bandwidth setting are unlimited. As I said - everything is at default - it's a clean install of the OS and DB.

speedTest.net (depending on the day)
Up: ~300-400Mbps
Down: ~600-900Mbps

Can you now admit you have a fundamental issue with macOS. Please tell me one way or the other because I'm trying to run a business around Dropbox and right now I'm being crippled. I've been paying for this service since the early days so I think I deserve an honest answer

Jay

Hi @thecargocultnz, in order to look into this matter in more detail, I'd recommend contacting the support team directly for them to investigate further.

thecargocultnz

I know I've done that in the past and it was pointless. "Have you restarted?" Have you upgraded to the latest MacOS? etc. etc. Dodging and gaslighting. You have an issue -there is no doubt.