Slow syncing, only Dropbox.

[MarkE]

Since several months I am finding that Dropbox sync's very slowly, but only for uploads. All suggested solutions do not work. I have set the bandwidth to the maximum.

As a work-around, I log into the Dropbox website and upload the file manually. This upload only takes a few seconds (so the speed of my connection is not the problem), but I then get a mail "we noticed a new sign in to your Dropbox". Uploading the same file through the regular syncing process can easily take 30 mins to an hour.

Any suggestions what is causing this?  I did not used to have this problem, and using sync to download files also goes very fast.

[Mark]

Antivirus scanner?
Little Snitch?
Firewall?

[MarkE]

I can't see any messages in either Firewall of Antivirus.

Firewall tends to block or allow, not really slow to a trickle.

It is very consistent. I have not been able to upload any files to Dropbox with a normal speed. I have no other issues uploading and downloading files.

[Karina · Accepted solution]

Hey @MarkE thanks for the additional detail on this matter you're experiencing! 

It seems that your ISP may be throttling the traffic. Please note that our servers don’t set caps on the upload/ download speeds, so restarting your connection could get you a different route and better speeds (this is outside of our control, though). 

I'd recommend checking with your ISP and local network for more information on this, and you can also have a look at: http://www.speedtest.net/

Hope this helps bring some extra clarity and happy Friday! 

[apraetor]

Could he be hitting different servers depending on whether he's using the web UI or the Dropbox sync client? I wonder whether his ISP has a peering issue, maybe they're under-provisioned for some routes.

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