Carbonite Releases the Throttle

November 12, 2013 — by Per Christensson

Last year, I reviewed Carbonite's online backup service. While I liked the intuitive interface, I determined the backup solution was unusable because the backups were too slow. The upload speed was so heavily throttled, I was never able to complete a full system backup. Therefore, I did not recommend Carbonite to anyone that needed to backup a large amount of data.

A few days ago, I received an email from a Carbonite representative with the subject, "Carbonite Ends Throttling Policies; Your Review Influenced This Action." The email stated that Carbonite has expanded its bandwidth has also ended its throttling practice. According to the representative, home users can now upload data 500% faster than before.

▶ Carbonite published this YouTube video in response to my review.

As much as I would like to take credit for influencing Carbonite's decision, I have no doubt there were many other users and reviewers that expressed the same frustration with the slow upload speeds. While this action is long overdue, it is a smart decision and I am impressed that Carbonite acknowledged that my review was influential. It seems rare theses days that companies take user feedback seriously, so Carbonite's email was a welcome message.

I am currently using another online backup solution, so I have not had a chance to experience Carbonite's new upload speeds firsthand. However, if you are looking at online backup solutions, this news makes Carbonite a much more appealing option. I recommend that you at least try Carbonite, especially since they still offer a free trial.