Cloud storage upload speed - a comparison

[rebl]

Hi,

I was thinking to organize the few books I have stored on various cloud services and upload some more, so I made an upload speed test.

[Edit]: Too Long /Wont' Read: Just look at the attached picture for a quick test uploading 100mb file on a 5 or 6 mbps upload connection. Would like to see other people's results. For me, google and box.com uploads were good while onedrive and dropbox had interruptions every few seconds. Damn I do write too much, what am I doing on a reading forum??? lol. [End of edit]

Since "mobile" reading is sometimes cloud reading, I believe posting the results might be useful for others too.

My main concern is the very low upload speed my ISP offers (VDSL connection with 50 Mbps DL and only 5 or 6 Mbps UL, I'm not sure), this is the only parameter I was interested in.

I have accounts on:
- OneDrive (30 GB + 100 GB temporary Samsung bonus up to 2017)
- OneDrive for business (1 TB)
- Google Drive (15 GB)
- Box.com (50 GB)
- Dropbox.com (2.5 GB)
For testing I used a dummy 100MB file and the odrive utility (which can sync all these cloud drives with local folders). Basically, after I downloaded to desktop the file from some random ISP test server, I moved it to the local box.com folder, then to dropbox.com local folder and so one, while odrive was doing its job in the background deleting the file from the previous cloud drive and uploading it to the next one. I measured the upload speed with DUMeter utility and with Windows 10's task manager (Performance tab). The results were similar but DuMeter also offers a grid (in the picture the vertical lines are 30s apart).

I know that a "burst" 100MB tranfer might be different than transferring 100 files 1MB each but I just wanted a quick estimation. Maybe the interruptions OneDrive and Dropbox had (see below) would have a lower impact if transferring multiple small files.

In order to exclude that deleting the file from the previous drive as some impact on upload speed to the next one, I did a final move of the test file again to box.com (which was the first drive tested) but the result was the same and the deletion of the file from the previous cloud drive cannot even be noticed on the chart. I also checked if moving from a google drive account to other google drive account (or one-drive one-drive) has any influence, but it hasn't (the file is of course re-uploaded from my PC and not moved directly between accounts).

Actually I realize that would be a nice idea, in order to move books between accounts, it would be nicer and faster to be able to connect the accounts directly between them. Otherwise one must re-upload the file each time if moving it from an account to another. I know that google drive has the share functionality (and the others too) but would this be possible to implement while also syncing locally, without re-download / re-upload?

Anyway here are the results (approximate average speed and time to upload a single 100mb file). I only listed the time for the last tests. Time is in decimal format (e.g. 2,75 mins = 2 minutes and 45 seconds)

initial move from desktop to Box.com: 5,9 mbps -> 2,5 min
dropbox: 2,5-3mbps -> 6 min
google drive: 4-6 mbps -> 2,5 min
google drive other account: 2.45 min
onedrive free: interruptions -> 3,8 min
onedrive for business: smaller interruptions -> 3.3 min

Dropbox was for me the worst, with intermittent transfer (transferring for 10 seconds then stalling for another 10)- as seen in the left side of the picture.

Also both OneDrive services (free/paid) had interruptions in upload but shorter than Dropbox, especially the business/paid version. Still it puzzles me that even the paid version of OneDrive has worse transfer than Google Drive and Box.com and only slightly better than the free version.

Google Drive and Box.com were the best, with basically constant 5,9-6 mbps upload speed. The only difference was that box.com had a single short interruption just at the beginning but then the transfer was constant.

In the attached picture you can see, from left to right:
Dropbox .. . . . . . Google Drive... Google Drive ....... OneDrive (incomplete- it didn't fit in the screen but I had to capture the ugly dropbox image).
Green means upload, red - download, yellow -both.
Box.com didn't fit in the image but it was simmilar to google drive except a very short "hiccup" at the beginning.

I hope this is useful. If somebody has some similar tests it would be interesting to see if the results are different in other countries (I'm located in Romania and my ISP is Telekom).

[rebl]

Please note that the image is not presented as a "proof" because I'm not trying to prove anything, like dropbox or onedrive are "bad" and I'm not accusing any of these provider of "interruptions". They are free services (well, not onedrive for business) and we have to be grateful for them. Actually I changed my mind, I do accuse someone - Microsoft's OneDrive for Business upload behavior is pathetic. This. I said it.
This is why I didn't even save the image segment of box.com's upload. You will have to believe my word

This was just my experience. My post is meant for other to realized that expectations and fact are sometimes quite different. So it's better to test before preparing to move your books collection to a cloud drive. Form me it's clear that on dropbox I will have more than twice longer upload times than on google and box.com.

[HarryT]

You say your 6MB upload speed is slow, but it seems fast to me . I get 0.75MBit/sec upload from my ADSL connection!

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by HarryT

You say your 6MB upload speed is slow, but it seems fast to me . I get 0.75MBit/sec upload from my ADSL connection!

His fastest upload is 100 MB in 2,5 minutes, or 0.67 MB/s. That's 5.3 MBit/s. My internet connection has an upload speed of 12 Mbit/s, and it isn't the fastest available in the Netherlands, by far. It actually is a middle-of-the-road connection. 5 MBit is about the slowest you can still get over here, except if you live on a farm on dial-up. So.. IMHO, 5.3 MBit/s is on the slow side of things

Your upload speed of 0.75 MBit/s, or 96 KB/s, is (IMHO) unusable nowadays for anything but basic websurfing. That's the speed I had in 2003.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Your upload speed of 0.75 MBit/s, or 96 KB/s, is (IMHO) unusable nowadays for anything but basic websurfing. That's the speed I had in 2003.

My download speed is 15MBit/sec, which is fine; it's the upload side of things that's slow. Fortunately I very rarely have a need to upload large files.

I could get an FTTC connection which would give me 75MBit/sec download, 20MBit/sec upload. Must get around to it one of these days - just laziness on my part.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

His fastest upload is 100 MB in 2,5 minutes, or 0.67 MB/s. That's 5.3 MBit/s. My internet connection has an upload speed of 12 Mbit/s, and it isn't the fastest available in the Netherlands, by far. It actually is a middle-of-the-road connection. 5 MBit is about the slowest you can still get over here, except if you live on a farm on dial-up. So.. IMHO, 5.3 MBit/s is on the slow side of things

Your upload speed of 0.75 MBit/s, or 96 KB/s, is (IMHO) unusable nowadays for anything but basic websurfing. That's the speed I had in 2003.

You're talking about download speeds. Before I moved to cable, I only had ADSL at 4Mbit/s down and 1Mbit up. And I don't live on a farm on dial-up! I do live in a small village, but one that is simply too far away from the closest distribution point (about 7km from the nearest city). I moved to a cable connection simply because I do agree with one thing: 1Mbit up is too slow if you really want to make use of cloud solutions.

About the OP:

I notice completely different numbers. For me, Dropbox is fastest (haven't timed it) and OneDrive slowest (have never uploaded large files to Google Drive, so I can't say anything about that).

[glos]

The most stable, reliable and "fast", combined with not too expensive, option I can get here (15k people town) is what I have had for about 10 years, speed is: 6.6Mbps down, 0.40Mbps up. Unless you want to use satellite or other things, that's the fastest I can get.
Basically using cloud services is difficult, I do use google photos for pics, but uploading my 1gb videos would be a nightmare with all service mentioned.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by glos

The most stable, reliable and "fast", combined with not too expensive, option I can get here (15k people town) is what I have had for about 10 years, speed is: 6.6Mbps down, 0.40Mbps up. Unless you want to use satellite or other things, that's the fastest I can get.
Basically using cloud services is difficult, I do use google photos for pics, but uploading my 1gb videos would be a nightmare with all service mentioned.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...nection_speeds

This is a nice list. Anyway you look at it, my country is doing rather well

[rebl]

I was not pointing to the connection speed "per se". That's the connection speed I have in that location and I have to live with it. It's not bothering me THAT much.
But I was pointing to the fact that some services allow uploading in a constant, continuous "burst" (like google and box.com) while the other two (dropbox and onedrive) upload with interruptions (if that is the correct word) in very short bursts or packets separated by small pauses, which actually reduce the average speed quite a lot. I am not sure why is this happening and if it's only for certain areas in the world, or is it everywhere.

Did you guys notice/experience these interruptions?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by rebl

I was not pointing to the connection speed "per se". That's the connection speed I have in that location and I have to live with it. It's not bothering me THAT much.
But I was pointing to the fact that some services allow uploading in a constant, continuous "burst" (like google and box.com) while the other two (dropbox and onedrive) upload with interruptions (if that is the correct word) in very short bursts or packets separated by small pauses, which actually reduce the average speed quite a lot. I am not sure why is this happening and if it's only for certain areas in the world, or is it everywhere.

Could be routing delays. Try doing a "tracert" to the sites concerned and see if there are any long delays on the route.

[rebl]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Could be routing delays. Try doing a "tracert" to the sites concerned and see if there are any long delays on the route.

I'm not sure if the tracert really explains this (it could explain the ping/latency I guess) but I did notice something.
I did two tracert tests and a ping with dropbox vs box.com and i noticed that dropbox needs 12 hops and has one request timeout while box.com needs 8 hops and has no timeout.
Strengly enough, both tracert routes pass through some Jan Jose server (dropbox gets to SanJose2.Level3.net and the timout is right after this while box.com to SanJose1.Level3.net)
But I also did a ping and actually the total ping is lower for dropbox (191 vs 194 ms).

Nah, I actually think these interruptions might be some kind of limitation established by the providers (Microsoft and dropbox) to limit the bandwidth usage and/or prevent attacks/abuse. Or maybe they are a technical requirement for the stability of their systems.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

You're talking about download speeds.

No, I'm indeed talking about upload speeds. My current internet connection is 120 MBit down, 12 MBit up (15MB/s down, 1,5 MB/s up), and somewhere in march/april, it will even be raised to 150/15 (18.75 MB/s down, 1.875 MB/s up). This is the intermediate internet connection at my ISP (Ziggo). To be honest, I don't really need this massive speed. However, dropping down to the lower connection is not worth it: I'll be paying 75% of the price I'd pay now, but I'll only get 25% of the speed. Switching to another provider is also useless at my location. I'll still be paying 75%+ percent of what I'm now paying, while my speed will drop to 40% or less.

While I don't need this speed, I'm not willing to sacrifice at least 60% of it for a 25% saving. As I can afford the extra money compared to the slower connections (a switch would save me €150 a year, at most), it would be a bad price/performance trade-off.

I was, however, a bit optimistic regarding the slowest connection available at my location. It's not 5 MBit upload; it's 4 The slowest connection I could get would be 40/4. I could get a non-cable connection, but they all hover around that 40/4 mark for prices comparable to Ziggo's. (At least, at my location.)

By the way: ADSL, does that still exist? I thought it had been replaced by ADSL2(+) and/or VDSL/VDSL2 a long time ago.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

By the way: ADSL, does that still exist? I thought it had been replaced by ADSL2(+) and/or VDSL/VDSL2 a long time ago.

Yes, mine is the 2+ variety.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by rebl

I'm not sure if the tracert really explains this (it could explain the ping/latency I guess) but I did notice something.
I did two tracert tests and a ping with dropbox vs box.com and i noticed that dropbox needs 12 hops and has one request timeout while box.com needs 8 hops and has no timeout.
Strengly enough, both tracert routes pass through some Jan Jose server (dropbox gets to SanJose2.Level3.net and the timout is right after this while box.com to SanJose1.Level3.net)
But I also did a ping and actually the total ping is lower for dropbox (191 vs 194 ms).

Nah, I actually think these interruptions might be some kind of limitation established by the providers (Microsoft and dropbox) to limit the bandwidth usage and/or prevent attacks/abuse. Or maybe they are a technical requirement for the stability of their systems.

Just out of curiosity, what is your maximum upload speed through your ISP?
This is important to know because as evidenced by the above posters, different types of service provide different speeds for both uploads and downloads.

So was it a glitch in Dropbox or your ISP?
One file per each does not give much data. To be somewhat accurate, do at least 3 files and then average the speed.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Just out of curiosity, what is your maximum upload speed through your ISP?
This is important to know because as evidenced by the above posters, different types of service provide different speeds for both uploads and downloads.

Which is precisely why the OP told us what it was in his original post .