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What is the maximum download and upload speeds you can get when using the desktop app?

I'm setting up a new computer and syncing my dropbox business account to it. The internet connection is great on fiber optic cable (1500MB/s) but my download speeds on dropbox are about 24MB/sec

What is the maximum anyone else is getting?

How can I improve this?

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Rich

That won't do you any good. There are so many things that affect speed that you could have two people with an identical setup and still have wildly different speeds. Your computer, your local network, your ISP, the route your traffic takes to get to Dropbox, the Dropbox network and servers, congestion along any part of the route to Dropbox, throttling by your ISP (very common), failures along the route that cause your traffic to take another path, etc.

Simply put, there is no expected speed. You get whatever speed you're capable of given all the factors above, and many others.

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Mark

It depends TOTALLY upon your own set up - so nobody else can give any sort of comparison.

What I would say though is that it will speed up once the initial folder creation is completed and it gets on to larger files. Dropbox sync's smallest -> largest and as smallest has the most overheads these are slowest to download.

chrismo

That doesn't help me much - I can't believe downloads can be this slow. I've got a fast computer and just about the fastest internet that you can get and I'm still only getting 20MB/s. What are the fastest speeds other people are getting?

Lusil

Hey peeps!

I just wanted to add to what @Mark said about Dropbox being able to upload/download as fast as your ISP allows and also mention that, although Dropbox doesn't normally use all of your bandwidth, you can change that by manually setting the upload/download speed.

Please bear in mind though that setting your Upload to Don't Limit or a higher number than your connection is capable of will likely cause all other Internet activity on your network to slow significantly.

Let us know if you have any other questions!

Rich

When you're looking at the numbers, make sure you're comparing apples to apples, and not oranges.

The speed from your ISP is likely listed in Kb/s or Mb/s; megabits. The speeds reported by Dropbox are in KB/s or MB/s; bytes. You need to do the conversion before you can simply compare them.

Also, the speed you see from Dropbox isn't simply the transfer speed of the data. Each file that you upload is hashed, compressed, then transferred, encrypted, and stored on the Dropbox servers. That entire process is included in the aggregate speed that's displayed in the Dropbox sync status. In other words, the speed reported by Dropbox is not just a transfer speed, but the speed at which the entire process is being completed. The actual transfer speed is higher, but when you factor in the entire process, it appears lower.

chrismo

I found that if I turn my VPN on, then my transfer rates get a bit better. They jump from 20MB/s to 70MB/s so I my ISP Bell Canada seems to be throttling dropbox traffic. Which is odd because they don't throttle Google drive.

I think it would be good to list what kind of speeds people get with different setups just so that they know the range and what to expect.

On a 12 Core Powermac with 950Mbps download speed I get 70MB/s

Everyone share your stats so we can know better what to expect.

Rich

Simply put, there is no expected speed. You get whatever speed you're capable of given all the factors above, and many others.

LP_DB

Hi Chrismo.

I also have a fast connection, and always get the advertised Gigabit speeds uploading and downloading. Except with dropbox.

My uploads and downloads cap out at 13.5MBps.

Dropbox suggested that this is an ISP issue, but have contacted them and they confirmed that in no way do they restrict dropbox traffic at all.

Rich

@LP_DB wrote:
My uploads and downloads cap out at 13.5MBps.

That's the equivalent of a 108Mbps connection, which is fast. Again, remember, that's NOT just the transfer speed to/from Dropbox. That's the speed in which your files are processed, start to finish, with all the hashing, compressing, encrypting, etc., that takes place during the process.

And, again, 13.5MBps is not the same as 13.5Mbps. It IS the same as 108Mbps. A 13.5MBps speed to Dropbox is fast. Likely one of the fastest reported speeds I've seen to Dropbox.

LP_DB

Mate I’m very aware of the difference between MBps and Mbps.

My downloads are routinely 80-100MBps on every other service except Dropbox.

If you’re telling me that the max speed of Dropbox uploads is a flat 13.5MBps then it’s wildly unfit for purpose as a business service.

Rich

What I'm telling you, "mate," is that you need to understand what that speed is referring to, and not just compare it to a transfer speed you get from another service that doesn't do the same chunking of files that Dropbox has to do before transferring anything.

I'm not saying Dropbox is faster or even as fast as other services. I am saying, understand how the service works and what the numbers represent before attempting to compare the speeds to other services.

chrismo

As a business user in the video industry, I'm dealing with 100 GB transfers and quick turn around times so I am comparing it to other services. Dropbox suits our needs and is part of our workflow, but I would like to optimize our speeds, because there are cases when I need to use other services because dropbox is so much slower. It breaks our workflow, when we use another transfer method. It doesn't matter to us WHY it's slower. With Gigabit connections getting so common, people are expecting more.

u_kadru

@chrismo

I agree with your observations. For me, Dropbox service is slower than others. I get around 3500kB/s (30 Mbps) upload and 7000-8000 kB/s (50-60 Mbps) download. I'm on 400/150 Mbps fiber and waiting for upload to complete is killing me.

Sometimes I have to use Onedrive to quickly upload material for the clients as Onedrive totally maxes out my connection. Dropbox takes several times longer to complete the upload comparing to Onedrive.

mr c.1

Rich always seems angry? Are you angry mate? P.S. Mate is normal lingo in some places, not worthy of cynical quotations.

klepp0906

becoming less happy with the service as of late. First the symlink change which they could have at least made an option instead of screwing the masses.

now I finally circumvent that by literally shooting my large files to another pc and installing dropbox there in order to get them uploaded, and turns out im uploading at 3000kbps.........

this is on symmetrical gigabit fiber. if this is what its like with the "no limit" box checked, i can only imagine at the alternative lol.

for whatever reason i am able to double to triple it 7-12000kbps if i connect to a vpn.

either way abysmally slow

u_kadru

What operating system are you using? I used Dropbox on two different Win 7 machines and I never got upload more than 3500 kbps. When I installed Win 10 on one of the machines, Dropbox is suddenly capable of maxing out my 400/150 Mbps connection. I think something is wrong with their Win 7 application.

klepp0906

im on win10 on all my machines at this point. just checked again, 13kbps. leaves a whole lotta meat on the bone considering i can run a speedtest right now and get like 960mbit up

like most with this type of connection, upload was my entire motive for changing from cable to fiber. shame it falls short in areas like this for whatever reason.

pravesh_b

Hey! I also had the same issue with dropbox and just a few days back they solved my problem. Use the link below and download this version.

But before installing this disconnect your dropbox connection and then uninstall it. Then restart your pc and install the newer version using this link

https://www.dropbox.com/downloading?build=89.3.272&plat=win&type=full

klepp0906

will give it a shot, thanks for the reply!

One800J

Nope. You're all wrong. WRONG I say! Dropbox is capping bandwidth ever since everyone started working from home. 20MB up, 40MBps down. I was getting 100-110MBps both ways, anytime, always consistant. Now... it sucks. Moving on to another company.

Done.

u_kadru

@One800J

I'm interested to know what other service will give you near gigabit speeds? Google drive file stream has way less speed than Dropbox on a bad day. I can only see Onedrive as a viable option but haven't tested their maximum speeds.

dandidandi

Riddle me this Rich, why am I getting 100mbps on Drive File Sync and 22mbps on Dropbox, same computer, same time of day, same connection?

Dannyb128

Would also like to say my download and upload speeds are currently crippling my workflow with clients.

I personally use Wetransfer for uploads but I have a client who always uploads to Dropbox and I'm currently downloading at about 20% of my actual Internet speed...

Rich

@dandidandi wrote:
Riddle me this Rich, why am I getting 100mbps on Drive File Sync and 22mbps on Dropbox, same computer, same time of day, same connection?

Asked and answered in the replies above. Read the entire thread.

Chistojomo

This answer tells it all. He is saying he knows it’s slower than the competition and 13.5 (108Mbps) is about as fast as it goes.

Dropbox is geared towards ease of use instead of speed. He wouldn’t be allowed to say that though - this the confusion.
Maybe someday there could be an option to turn off encryption and l let your full internet connection be used (and save your laptop’s battery), but until then We use Dropbox for it’s simplicity, and other services when we need speed.

Dropbox was one of the first of these services to come out. Back then 100Mbps was really fast. Maybe in some countries it still is but the new standard is 1000Mbps.

DimTaniels

These responses are good but not the right answer.

It has to do with with the fact that DropBox picks data from your computer in 4MB blocks, then places on their server as it builds your file back up. The speed of this is dertermined by your machine and their machine. We'll go ahead and assume their machines are on the "super computer" level and our machines are not. Even with a Ryzen 3990x 64 core CPU, you'll still cap out. I use an 2009 MacPro Tower with 12cores at 3.4. This tower still revials newer iMac Pros.

So... How do I know this? I spent roughly 6 hours on tech support that ended with a Sr. Tech letting me know this.

I had fiber installed at my house, one of the first houses in the neighborhood to have it so my speeds were right at 960mbps up and down... Drop Box... 13-15MBps... Which meant I could upload 1TB of raw footage in about 18hrs. I am NOT complaining about that as that means in about a day and a half, I can have a 2TB video shoot backed up. (In addition to 3 phyisical hard drives)

BUT, why not 100MBps (800mbps)?? It'd be pretty nice knowing I can get all footage backed up in about 6hrs.

So I called ATT, nope, they have no reason to throttle upload. I checked a few other file transfer softwares and the like and... Google Drive was hitting close to 60MBps on the same machine. Welp... off to DropBox tech support and wahlaa, DropBox is the problem.

Don't waste time calling you ISP or checking your network set up. If you have fiber, even on wifi, you should have plenty of bandwidth to hit 15-30MBps.

Please correct me if I am wrong or was shared incoorect information by this Sr. Tech... but afterwards, in my digging around google on how this conecpt works, it made sense.

Bright

So, this is the reason I should stop with Dropbox. However, their backup/restore functionality is great, so I will have to rethink about this.

Getting a 500Mbps up/down (62MBps) connection soon, so some reconsideration would be good, for I wanted full backups to Dropbox, which seems not doable with this slow speeds.

Think Jarvis

Really interesting thread! I have over half a million files in dropbox and two copies synced. One on a portable and one on a workstation.

You have to remember that Dropbox is a backup and storage service. So it is a passive process and is limited somewhat to account for the number of customers Dropbox has.

The upload process is processor intensive as other users have suggested upload speed is often quicker on faster CPUs with SSDs.

If you need a faster backup, get a NAS drive with RAID and Dropbox capabilities. The dropobx backup can then take place overnight safe in the knowledge that there are at least 2 copies already available locally.

nj21

I have this problem. I have fiber internet and my old Acer laptop is maxing out the syncing speed via Wifi. Now, I have an MSI laptop that is newer and has better specs but it syncs really slow. My PC, which is my main workstation, with even better specs and fast storage, connected to the gigabit router directly, also gets capped speeds like my MSI laptop. Currently, I'm forced to use the old laptop for syncing files and it's a bit troublesome to transfer files back and forth. I hope someone might know the fix for this. Thank you.

letitiam

count yourself lucky, I am on a 1gb ethernet connection, and dropbox is saying 13 mins to download 35 mb

Bright

This is what I do. But the 'overnight sync' took a few days (almost a week). Fortunately the incremental backups for next days were very small so after a few days extra the Dropbox was on par with the backups. However, this really is a not working way and indeed Dropbox DOES cap the uploads, whatever they are saying!