A slow upload speed can have a variety of causes. Box.net does not cap upload or download speeds so if you find your upload is taking longer than it should, we've listed a few reasons why that might be. These speeds are limited primarily by the user’s connection and computer.

Please keep in mind that there is a difference between “kb” (kilobit) and “KB” or “Kb” (kilobyte). One kilobyte is equal to eight kilobits. Internet service providers (ISP) will usually calculate upload and download speeds in terms of “kbps.” Box uploads are calculated in terms of Kb/second. Therefore, if you are getting upload speeds of 30 Kb/second on Box, this would translate to 240 kbps by your ISP (typical for a DSL connection of 300 kbps).

Firewalls
Firewalls can slow down or stop uploads. If you use third-party software, try temporarily turning off firewalls such as ZoneAlarm, the built-in Windows or Macintosh firewall, or any others. Simply adding Box as an allowed site to these firewalls will likely not solve this issue.

Business network restrictions
As with firewalls, users in an office setting may find their IT department has blocked or slowed down connections to Box.net. Try consulting your IT department on restrictions they may have placed on uploads or unapproved web sites.

Box upload settings
Try adjusting the upload settings in the settings page of your account. You can further adjust your upload settings from within your ‘Settings’ under the ‘Upload’ section. The ‘Add Files type’ has three versions, while Drag & Drop has two. We recommend trying different versions of each to see what works best.

You can also try using a different upload method. When you click on the ‘Upload’ button in your Box account, you should see two links in the pop-up window: ‘Add files’ and ‘Drag & Drop.’ Clicking on ‘Add Files’ brings up our Flash-based upload tool, which we recommend for fewer, smaller files. For larger files, or if you wish to upload a larger number of files, we recommend ‘Drag & Drop’, which is our Java Applet-based upload tool. This second method also allows your upload to resume if it is ever interrupted.

Try a different browser or computer
Some users will find that their upload speeds increase on alternative browsers. Box recommends that you use the latest version of Firefox, available at http://www.firefox.com

If you find that this still does not improve your upload speeds, try a different computer to help isolate the issue. If your speed increases on another computer, then you will know that the first computer itself was causing the slower speeds. If your speed does not increase, then this is most likely an issue with your Internet connection.

Your ISP
Sometimes a slow upload is the fault of your ISP. We recommend a high speed Internet connection with high upload speeds. Often with DSL, the upload speed is significantly slower than the download speed. This will result in fast loading times for most websites, but slow uploads on Box.net.