Dropbox knocks out router

[Anonymous User]

Every time I upload a large file to Dropbox, every device on our network loses connection to Now TV broadband (wireless & wired). Sometimes the only solution is to reboot the router.

I have Fab Fibre and I've tried restricting Dropbox to 500kbps but it still happens.

My partner needs a reliable connection to WFH with live servers and video calls, so I have to disconnect Dropbox during working hours, which means my work isn't backed up.

[schnapps]

Hi @Anonymous User 

Not familiar with Drop Box, but before you try contacting the NowTV Broadband Team i would try these things (they are a long shot but worth trying just has an experiment to see if there is any difference).

I used to get dropouts over wifi on my three different Chromecasts when using Spotify with NowTV Fab Fibre, but since i made the amendments below to my NowTV account and NowTV Hub 2 Router settings (touch wood) everything has been running fine for the last 18 months.

1. Go into your NowTV account settings and play around with the Broadband Buddy Settings (i use off, but maybe try the custom settings and Allow specified website or web addresses or temporary try OFF).

https://help.nowtv.com/article/broadband-buddy-troubleshooting 

2. Go into the Hub 2 Router Web Page settings and split the two Wifi frequency bands.

Your Hub Two is dual-band (2.4GHz and 5 GHz). Splitting these bands to create 2 different Wi-Fi networks can help to improve the speed to your devices. Here’s how to do it.

1. Open your web browser and enter "192.168.0.1” in the address bar.
2. Select Maintenance and enter “admin” and “nowtv” as the username and password.
3. Select Wireless and then 2.4 GHz Wireless Settings. 
4. Scroll down to “Wireless Access Point” and uncheck Synchronise 2.4GHz and 5GHz Settings.
5. In the ‘Name (SSID)’ box, Change the network name to distinguish it from the current network (e.g. add “_2.4G” to the current name). Select Apply.
6. Check the network name has been updated, and then select 5GHz Wireless Settings.
7. To be able to see easily which network is which on your devices, change the ‘Name (SSID)’ here too (e.g. add “_5G” to the current name). Select Apply.
8. That’s it. Select Logout at the top of the screen to exit.

3. Whilst in the Hub 2 Router Web Page settings, see if disabling IPV6 makes any difference.

Other than that give the NowTV Broadband Team a call for further assistance & help.

[Anonymous User]

thanks@schnapps that sounds great, now how do I get my paws on a Hub 2? I've still got the original Hub 😞

I have Broadband Buddy off by default. I'll have a go at disabling IPv6 but I'm not sure how it could make things worse.

[schnapps]

Hi @Anonymous User 

Before swapping out the Router, see if the NowTV Broadband Team can assist with your Drop Box problem.

To contact the NowTV Broadband Team, there is a number of places on your account to find their number.

To save time, open the link below and make sure you are logged in with your Broadband sign in details where a telephone number should appear on screen highlighted in green to phone.

https://help.nowtv.com/get-in-touch/now-broadband-calls/installation-and-setup 

[dr_necessitor]

@Anonymous User 

Sounds like an odd one. Dropbox connection all good here (on Fab Fibre) both via ethernet (laptop) & wifi (tablet & mobiles).  “Buddy” off, wifi bands not split, IPv6 not disabled, using Hub Two. Wonder if it’s something to do with very large file sizes being transferred? Do small file transfers work ok?

[Anonymous User]

@dr_necessitorsmall file transfers don't seem to cause a problem, which is confusing in itself, because Dropbox seems to transfer any file in 4MB chunks. Delaying the upload makes the problem worse, too, because Dropbox stores a cache every time a change is saved. A file of a few hundred MB can become a GB over a working day.

[dr_necessitor]

@Anonymous User 

Interesting problem. It rings a bell with me though. Definitely seen this problem raised before! But I’m a bit pressed for time today to do any research.

As you probably know, NOW TV Broadband is effectively Sky Broadband.

So I suggest a Google search for “sky broadband large file transfer problem” and browse the results for a solution.

If you find a solution, please update this thread with details.

[Anonymous User]

Thanks @dr_necessitor 

Had a look at Sky Broadband, where actual Sky employees troubleshoot problems 😉

Didn't find a solution but did find a couple of threads for similar problems:

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/Large-file-uploads-hang-the-router/td-p/3375423/page/2

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/Home-hub-crashing-when-trying-to-upload-a-large-file-to-Onedr...

https://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Broadband/Internet-Connection-drops-on-all-other-devices-when-my-partne...

Seems to be a fairly recent issue, I wonder if it's due to high contention ratios & traffic shaping during lockdown?

[dr_necessitor]

@Anonymous User 

Have a look at https://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/sky-broadband-fibre-help/51607-uploading-large-files-causes-download-slow-significantly.html in particular post #3 (by Dragon2611) in that thread (specifically paras 1 & 2). I think the Dropbox app on your device may contain settings to rate limit the transfer speed so that your connection doesn’t get knocked out. (My alter ego on there is speedyrite). Hope that helps!

[Anonymous User]

@dr_necessitorThat looks like my problem. I've tried rate limiting Dropbox to 500kbps but it doesn't seem to solve the problem.

I'm leaning towards the problem being upstream bandwidth saturation. I guess that my Dropbox tips it over the edge when my partner's already working on a live server and video conferencing.

Don't suppose I can set up the Hub to prioritise my partner's work traffic over everything else, or throttle my bandwidth during work hours?

[dr_necessitor]

@Anonymous User 

Unfortunately none of the Sky or NOW TV “hubs” provide any support to do that sort of QoS thing 😟 so you’re stuck with the option of limiting Dropbox via the settings in its app. Either that or replace the hub with own supplied equipment that provide more sophisticated support (if you are comfortable with that and have the skills to do so).

[Anonymous User]

Same issue with OneDrive, however not with GDrive.