Why is my download speed slow?

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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[This thread is now closed. If you have a similar or new question, you can ask here.]

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.