Welcome to the ADSL Portal

Please enter your ADSL User ID and Password to check your current bandwidth usage and/or to top up your account:

ADSL account
Password

Frequently asked Questions

Question: How long before the top up becomes active on my account?

Your top up will take effect within 10-15 minutes after you submit the details - provided the ADSL User ID and Password you provided is correct.

Question: Are there any tools available for monitoring the traffic on my PC?

We recommend you use Netlimiter.  While this is a handy tool, it's not 100% accurate because of the following reasons:

• It can only track traffic on your PC
• It is also possible to bypass this program so that some of the traffic is not recorded

For more sophisticated monitoring including the ability to monitor ALL traffic on your network, use Wireshark.

Questions: There seems to be some unexplained traffic on my ADSL account?

Your ISP cannot "listen" to the conversations on your network any more than your cell company can (or should!) listen to your telephone conversations.  The power company can also not tell you whether your TV or your hi-fi is using the most electricity.  In all these cases the supplier can only count the number of units you use - not what you use them for.

This leaves you with a problem if you have unexplained data traffic on your network.  A problem your ISP cannot directly assist with - because they cannot "see" into your network or control it from outside.

Here are the most common reasons for unexplained traffic:

Peer to peer networks: Such as bit torrent and other file sharing software can use HUGE amounts of bandwidth if left unchecked.  Once installed on a computer in your network, this software will enable you to share (download) files from others, but few people realize that the software also allow other people to download FROM your computer in the background...so even while you are sleeping, people around the world may be busy downloading the latest Harry Potter move from your computer - over your ADSL connection.

Streaming: Audio and video streaming (ie listing to internet radio or watching internet TV) can generate a lot of data traffic.

Wireless hijacking: If the wireless feature is enabled on your router, hackers in the nearby vicinity may be using your bandwidth for their own purposes, even if WEP or WPA is enabled.  Enable WPA-PSK encryption using a 12+ character random password. Do not use known words, product names, labels or anything else. Do not use WEP encryption as this can be cracked within minutes giving a false sense of security.

Spyware,malware,viruses,trojans, rootkits: Any PC's connected to your router may be infected causing the machine to become a zombie for sending spam or an instrument in sending denial of service attacks. New evidence suggests rootkit technology is now being employed to avoid detection by most Antivirus programs.  Run multiple virus and anti spyware scans on your system, there are various tools available to do this via the web.  We recommend NOD32, please contact us for your product license.

Network Chatter: Random packets caused by portscans, dns, router update checks, remote pings etc. This will occur even if your PC`s are switched off if you have a router as opposed to a USB based ADSL modem.  Turn of your router to avoid any traffic charges. Alternatively put the router in "stealth mode" - this makes it appear to be offline to the outside world and reduces the small amount of daily wastage.  Typically this is a small amount of traffic and unlikely to be noticeable.

Skype: Skype generates traffic even if not in use. This is because skype can turn any PC into a 3rd party router for assisting in its P2P telephony functioning.  Log out of Skype when not in use and try a different instant messaging client.

Stolen Username: There are known exploits and hackers are actively scanning the internet for insecure routers to obtain usernames and passwords. These are then used to steal bandwidth from the account.  Reset your ADSL router password to something other that the default settings (normally: admin, admin), to fend off malicious users.  You can also request and ADSL access account password reset with Cozahost.