Slow Upload Speeds

Hey RogueXLR, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Generally, syncing is a more complicated process than just transferring data.

Each file is divided and compressed into hashed components, transferred via secure data transfer, and then encrypted and stored on our servers.

It also depends on how fast your computer can process and compress the files, etc.

Have you just recently started facing this issue?

And is it possible that you might have more than 300K files in your Dropbox folder?

Keep me posted.

Yes I do have just over 300k files in my dropbox account and have only started encoutering this issue recently

Hi from me as well, RogueXLR! 

Please keep in mind that the Dropbox app’s performance may decline if it tries to sync more than 300k files. 

What I’d like you to try, in case you have any large folders you don’t need to be synced locally, is to use selective sync and remove them from the desktop app, so that they only appear on www.dropbox.com. 

Let me know if this seems to help.

Nancy 

Ok I have just removed some files that way the total is under 300k and upload speed is now up to my max plan speed. I still don't understand how if there are more than 300k files and if nothing has changed on say 250k of them, why it drastically slows down the upload speed. I get that it has to check every file one by one but making it slow down upload speed is odd.

I’m glad to hear this seems to have solved the issue, RogueXLR!

If you’d like to check more info on this, please take a look at this Help Center article, as well. 

Hope this helps.

Hello I am back with experiencing more slow upload speeds despite the total file count being below 300k. My upload caps out between 5-10Mbps compared to the usual 40Mbps based on my plan speed. I have even gone to the lengths of completely uninstalling and reinstalling the desktop app and even tried uploading directly to the website and still have the same slow upload speed. I don't know what is going on and why this has changed suddenly in the past 6 months.

Hi RogueXLR, if you're experiencing this issue on the Dropbox desktop application and the website, then it sounds like a proxy, VPN, firewall, security software, or even ISP/router settings could be restricting traffic to the following Dropbox domains.
 

Hi There, 

Are you based in Australia? I'm having similar issues with Dropbox due to the fact that Dropbox stores Australian user's data in Singapore. There is quite a bit of international upload congestion right now so uploads are typically less than 10mbps or 1/4 of my upload bandwidth as I have a similar plan to you (100/40). 

I noticed this https://help.dropbox.com/security/physical-location-data-storage but it doesn't apply to professional plans. 

Until Dropbox fixes the issue there is always Google drive or One Drive. I've found both have much better performance for Australian users. 

I had a look at your Dropbox domains article and noticed that some of your au domains e.g. dl-web-au.dropbox.com actually resolve to Singaporean servers. This would explain my problem and possibly the original poster's issues (assuming they are the same as mine). 

Is this a policy change by Dropbox or a technical error? Please fix it ASAP. It would be a shame to leave Dropbox a year before my 10th anniversary as a paying customer. 

Hi James M.58, I hope you're doing well! 

Would you be able to share with us the info you located in regards to the servers? 

If I were you, I'd try restarting the router, just to see if you can get a different connection. Also, have you adjusted the app's bandwidth settings to "not limit"? 

Keep us posted!