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How to Fix Cloud Backups Saturating Your Upload Bandwidth
Router & WiFiIntermediate10-25 minutes

How to Fix Cloud Backups Saturating Your Upload Bandwidth

Difficulty
Intermediate
Time
10-25 minutes
Category
Router & WiFi

Your internet feels slow because cloud backups are using all your upload bandwidth - here's how to limit them and keep your connection usable.

💡What's Happening

You've got Backblaze, Carbonite, OneDrive, Google Drive, or Dropbox running in the background, and suddenly everything online feels sluggish. Web pages take forever to load, video calls freeze, and uploading anything is impossible. The problem isn't your download speed - it's that cloud backup services are maxing out your upload bandwidth. Most home internet has terrible upload speeds (like 10-20 Mbps up vs 200+ Mbps down), and backup services aggressively use every bit of it. Let's throttle them back.

✓Quick Checks (Do These First)

  • Run an upload speed test. Go to speedtest.net and note your upload speed (not download).
  • Check what's uploading right now. Look at Task Manager (Windows) or Activity Monitor (Mac) to see network usage.
  • Pause backup temporarily. Right-click the backup app's icon in your system tray and pause it - does everything speed up?
  • Check for multiple backup services. Are you running OneDrive, Dropbox, AND a dedicated backup service? That's triple the upload traffic.

🔧Step-by-Step Fixes

Fix 1: Limit Upload Speed in Backup Applications

Most backup apps let you cap how much bandwidth they use.

For Backblaze:

  1. Open Backblaze from your system tray
  2. Go to Settings
  3. Find Performance or Throttle
  4. Set upload speed to 50% of your total upload bandwidth (if you have 20 Mbps up, set it to 10 Mbps max)
  5. Enable Automatic Throttle to slow down during daytime hours

For OneDrive:

  1. Right-click OneDrive icon in system tray → Settings
  2. Go to Network tab
  3. Under "Upload rate," uncheck "Don't limit"
  4. Set it to a specific number - try 5-10 Mbps to start

For Dropbox:

  1. Click Dropbox icon → Settings → Preferences
  2. Go to Bandwidth tab
  3. Under "Upload rate," select "Limit to" and set a reasonable cap

For Google Drive:

  1. Click Google Drive icon → Settings → Preferences
  2. Under "Bandwidth," set Upload rate to "Limit to" and enter a value

Fix 2: Schedule Backups for Off-Hours

  1. In your backup software settings, find Schedule or Timing options
  2. Set backups to run only during overnight hours (like 2 AM - 6 AM)
  3. This way backups complete without interfering with your daytime usage
  4. Most backup services support scheduling or "active hours" where they throttle themselves

Fix 3: Use Router-Level Upload Limits

For more control, limit upload bandwidth at the router level.

  1. Log into your router settings (192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1)
  2. Find QoS or Traffic Control
  3. Enable QoS and set priority rules:
    • High priority: Video calls, gaming, web browsing
    • Low priority: Cloud backup services
  4. Some routers let you set upload limits per device - cap your backup computer's upload to 50-70% of total
  5. Save and reboot the router

Fix 4: Disable Continuous Syncing During Work Hours

  1. If you don't need real-time syncing, disable it during your work hours
  2. In OneDrive/Dropbox/Google Drive settings, look for Pause syncing
  3. Manually pause when you need full bandwidth (video calls, uploads, etc.)
  4. Resume syncing in the evening or overnight
  5. Consider using "Files On-Demand" (OneDrive) or "Smart Sync" (Dropbox) to reduce what gets uploaded

Fix 5: Reduce What Gets Backed Up

  1. Open your backup software settings
  2. Review what folders are included in backups
  3. Exclude large media folders that don't need cloud backup:
    • Video game installations
    • Downloaded movies/TV shows
    • Temporary files
    • Windows.old folders
  4. This reduces the total amount that needs to be uploaded
  5. The initial backup is the worst - once complete, daily changes are much smaller

⚠️If Nothing Worked

If you've throttled your backups and you're still having upload issues, check for other culprits: security camera uploads to the cloud, automatic phone photo backups while on WiFi, or someone else in the house uploading large files. Also check if your ISP throttles upload speeds during peak hours - some do. You can call and ask about business plans which often have better upload speeds (like 50 Mbps up vs 10 Mbps on residential plans).

📞When to Call a Pro

If you need reliable backups but can't afford to sacrifice internet performance, a tech can help you set up local NAS (network attached storage) backups that don't use your internet at all, combined with scheduled overnight cloud backups. They can also optimize your router's QoS settings to perfectly balance backup traffic with your daily needs.

Need Professional Help?

If you're in the Tampa Bay area and need hands-on assistance, Geeks in Sneaks provides friendly, on-site tech support in Clearwater, Clearwater Beach, and Dunedin.

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Related Topics

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