Dropbox Sync Gobbling up Bandwidth

Hi,

It would be helpful to get a recommendation anywhere between unlimited and 50 kbs, for example based on our known internet speed? I have 100mbs. Does unlimited mean it takes up all those 100 megabits per second? 50 kbs then seems ultra low in comparison, so what would be a good setting? And what else plays into slow a slow startup? I did find that my HD is using 100% to write time (percentage of time the disk is processing read or write requests) and this dropped immediately to normal levels after pausing DB. 

Many thanks.

Thank you for your feedback on this be-each - I'll pass your comments on to the dev team for their consideration. 

In the meantime, note that our servers do not set caps on the upload or download speeds from the Desktop client, but file sync is a complicated process that includes more than just the transfer of the data. Keep in mind each file is divided and compressed into hashed components, transferred via secure data transfer, and then encrypted and stored on our servers. During an upload, the transfer speeds are also dependent upon how quickly your computer can process and compress the components of the files to make them available for upload. For more information on high CPU usage when using Dropbox, please refer to this page: 

https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/high-cpu-usage

Moreover, the Dropbox client (i.e. the desktop app) will also batch upload smaller files into batches of 800 files. If you have 800 * 1 kB files the effective batch that's sent to Dropbox will be 800 kB in size. You may commonly see this behavior when Dropbox first starts syncing as the client starts with smallest files first and then progresses to larger files.

Thus, the initial sync of your data is going to be the most time and resource intensive period. However, the more you use Dropbox the more efficient syncing becomes:

• Once you upload a file to Dropbox, you never need to upload it again.
• When editing large files, the Dropbox app attempts to sync only the blocks of the file that have changed.

You can also check your connection speed through your ISP and local network by using the following link:  http://www.speedtest.net/ 

Please keep in mind that the actual sync speed you see may not match these speeds directly as we are including the hash, compression, and encryption process in our aggregate kB/s speed (note this is kByte not KBit per second). 

I hope this information helps to some extent Johanna and please let me know if there's anything else I can assist with. 

Hello

Setting bandwidth limit is not enough. First of all automatic bandwidth control as mentioned in product documentation is not useful to manage internet congestion as can only control traffic inside own device (computer). Then, in my experience, the bandwidth limit has be set too low to really avoid Dropbox interfere on network traffic, making sync speed too slow. Not sure why, but any time Dropbox start syncing in my wife computer the rest of the family begin to complain about Internet not working. Yes, we do not have high speed connection (12 MB/s) but I have configured Dropbox limit to around 20% of available bandwidth (UL & DL) and still the impact is very noticeable.

I would expect Drobox to implement scheduled sync, allowing to setup bandwidth utilization profile by time of the day.  This does not seem to be so difficult to do and would really change my perception of Dropbox product (I am really thinking to cancel my yearly subscription because of this issue).

Best Regard,

Gustavo

Thank you for this feedback Gustavo.

We are always looking for user input when creating the next version of our desktop app so I'll make sure your comments are passed along to our dev team for their consideration.

Cheers!

Just wondering if there is a way to globally apply bandwidth rules to an entire team via the admin console?

I'm a team admin but cannot seem to find the option.

Regards

Leon

Hey Leon - how are you today?

Even though it's not an option at the moment, I'll make sure to pass this along to our dev team for future consideration - thank you for the feedback.

I can't be sure if this is going to be implemented as this setting is device specific and members of teams are able to connect their personal accounts with their work one so in case the members have their personal accounts connected to their work ones via our desktop app, the changes you'd apply to their bandwidth settings would affect their personal accounts too (and that's something we obviously cannot allow for security purposes) unless you've chosen to prevent them from doing so (this feature is available on our Advanced and Enterprise plans). 

I hope this information helps to some extent and please let me know if you have anything to add. Thank you LeonMurray!

I was trying to limit my "upload" bandwidth to prevent impacting the rest of my family (my son was trying to watch YouTube videos - a pretty heavy download use - he noticed a major degradation of function).  I was trying to sync my photos from my phone to the Dropbox website, but then I realized the Dropbox app calls it the "download" bandwidth, I am not downloading to Dropbox - it's on the web.  I upload file to Dropbox and download files and videos from the internet to watch or use.

Why do you guys not explain the difference in your app?  When I throttled my "dropbox download" preference to 10kB/sec - I saw the sync status drop to 10KB/Sec (by hovering my mouse pointer over the Dropbox icon (with the sync icon on it).

The application could provide more guidance to aid people - or simply using the correct terminology instead of confusing people.

Greg Dieter

Is there a way to Set bandwidth capping via Group Policy?

Is there a way to centrally manage this for a group of users or maybe even better via group policy?