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Forum Discussion
Why is my download speed slow?
Hi, I don't understand why I'm having such a big problem downloading a movie from my Dropbox file onto my MacbookPro laptop. The file is only 1.2GB, I'm connected to my router with an ethernet cable,...
Don't forget your data is transmitted encrypted and must be decrypted. That happens on the drive, along with checks to make sure the enitre file reaches you. It will take some time.
Dropbox will never use the complete full download bandwidth. It also is affected by you using other things, like mail, web etc during those times Dropbox may slow the process to allow you to continue working. It could be affected by things like you allowing the computer to sleep.
Have you checked your bandwidth settings ? https://help.dropbox.com/syncing-uploads/faster-sync
Many, many, factors can contribute to each users individual experience.
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If this has helped you, please Kudo this post.
If it has solved your issue please ✓ Accept as Solution.- And just for completeness, remember that the speed you see reported by Dropbox is not simply the transfer speed of your data. Tom and Jay have already mentioned the encryption, but also, 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. It can never be compared to the advertised speeds from your ISP.
Dropbox pro account and encountering the same issue here. Strange that when I change ISPs the download speed improves (downloading from my ADSL office internet connection gets me 2mb/s download) but my home (fibre) ISP download from dropbox is abysmal. My ISP has assured me they don't throttle and I have no trouble with updloads or downloads to other services. I'm on fibre with 25/10 at home but I'm only getting 100-200kbps download from dropbox - what gives? Seriously reconsidering the value of a "pro" account.
