Telkom ADSL Audit Trail

[capetownguy]

This has probably been discussed but just a few questions.

What process/procedure does one follow if you would like to query the Audit Trail. According to Telkom, I downloaded 300mb at 10:55am at home during the week. I start work at 8:30am so how is this possible if my laptop was switched off?

Can I check with Telkom what was "downloaded"?

 

[davemc]

Step 1 : Change your ADSL login account's password.
Step 2 : Do you use a wireless router to handle your ADSL? If so, how do you know that somebody did not jump onto your wireless connection and download stuff? i.e. Secure your wireless router using MAC addresses so that hackers cannot get onto your WI-FI network.
Step 3 : There is no need to check what was downloaded. You already know that your laptop was off, so the source is not your laptop. Your ISP will be able to give you a list of port's (ports map to telephone numbers) that your ADSL account has used. If the ADSL account has used a different port, then the problem is account theft, if the ADSL account has not used a different port, then the problem is on your side, something there is not secure.

If the problem is account theft, open a case of theft at the police station.

 

[arf9999]

It's more likely that 10h55 was the end of a session. Thus the measurement took place at 10h55, but the throughput was over the preceding hours.

 

[capetownguy]

Well there is nobody at home after 9am. Laptop is off.

I'm just wondering if Telkom could tell me what I "downloaded" that was 300mb while I was not there.

 

[johandl]

Well there is nobody at home after 9am. Laptop is off.

I'm just wondering if Telkom could tell me what I "downloaded" that was 300mb while I was not there.

I'm afraid this is the same question I have and MANY others I have spoken with over the past 8 weeks. Every one of us show huge downloads on our ADSL accounts from 1am through to 7am in the morning when notebooks are not on at home, or even worse, from 8am through to 5pm when NO ONE has been home in the week.

The audit clearly shows this as the 'accounted' date/time stamp, so either Telkom has an error within its accounting process or there are problems with external access to accounts or liberal use has been made for ascribing bandwidth usage to certain accounts within regions to cover up illegal use by Telkom staff.

Of the people I have discovered with the exact same problem as I have, 8 are excellent examples including myself - we all have very secure setups at home with invisible Wireless networks and complex passwords. All of us are either single, married without children or married with small babies, and all of us are away from home from 8am through to 5pm in the week. All of us also use only notebooks to access our home accounts and all of us confirm that we have those switched off at night. Despite this we have hundreds of Mbytes 'downloaded' according to Telkom when we are not online or home.

Add to this my frustration (having moved in and started my new Telkom account on the 4th of March 09 - why could they not have moved my CT account to Johannesburg instead???) of being down for 19 days collectively and unable to use the ADSL, and the further 24 days of inconsistant use I got when the line was 'almost' working. Despite this 'forced downtime' we got cut yesterday for 'exceeding 4Gb', forcing me to topup another 4Gb this morning.

I truly think this is the time for someone with legal teeth to investigate staff operations within Telkom, and the processes used by Telkom to calculate and bill usage.

 

[capetownguy]

What I don't understand is how watching a 3 youtube videos can account for something like 300mb.

When I check my temporary internet files folder, these 3 files only account for like 23mb.

 

[johandl]

It doesn't have to. Any technically experienced person will tell you that it is all based on trust. The so called 'accountable' portion of the billing process may include your usage to a degree, but can never secure the Telkom specific part of the agreement. On that we 'trust' Telkom on their numbers, and this is where the problem has grown in my view. There are absolutely no warranties that can be made by Telkom regarding the honesty of their staff, and little you or I can do to ensure as customers that they do. No 'port' tracking, phone tracking or IP tracking can guarantee this, unless we as customers can be assured that Telkom guarantees the logs and audit processes within their technical department. This is where I believe there is no integrity amongst some staff, and where 'billing' is fooled by the so called data traffic 'you' generate so that they end up with the ridiculous numbers you see at the odd hours your Telkom audit tool lists.

There used to be a time when people were proud of delivering honest and excellent service, but sadly a few bad eggs in each department, running without tight controls or management, are spoiling it for everyone within Telkom and its customer base. I again suggest strongly that the only way we as customers will be satisfied of this service quality being re-established within the company is by an independent auditor's report on the technical and billing processes of Telkom.