RADIUS and MikroTik ISP Billing in Kenya: What It Is and When You Need It

What is RADIUS in ISP Billing?

RADIUS stands for Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service. It is a networking protocol that lets ISP billing software control who may connect to your network through your MikroTik routers.

In a RADIUS setup, the billing system:

• Authenticates customers when they connect (verifying username and password, or MAC address)
• Authorises the bandwidth plan they receive
• Accounts for how much data or time they use
• Disconnects customers when their billing period expires

This "AAA" framework — Authentication, Authorization, Accounting — has been the traditional foundation of ISP billing for decades.

How MikroTik RADIUS Billing Works

When a PPPoE customer connects, the MikroTik router sends a RADIUS Access-Request to a RADIUS server. The server checks the customer's account status and replies with an Access-Accept carrying their speed limits, or an Access-Reject if the account has expired. MikroTik Hotspot works the same way, checking each login against the server.

What RADIUS Actually Costs a Small ISP

RADIUS is powerful, but running it is real work:

• A server to maintain — FreeRADIUS needs a Linux VPS, kept patched and online
• A single point of failure — if the RADIUS server is unreachable, customers cannot authenticate at all
• Shared secrets and firewall rules — every router needs configuring, and every change is a chance to lock yourself out
• Real expertise — diagnosing a failed Access-Request is not a beginner task

For a Kenyan ISP with a few hundred customers, that overhead often outweighs the benefit.

How Jasiyo Manages MikroTik Without a RADIUS Server

Jasiyo takes a different approach. Instead of asking you to run RADIUS, Jasiyo installs a small phone-home agent on your MikroTik. The agent connects outward to Jasiyo, so there is no RADIUS server for you to maintain, no inbound port to expose, and no shared secret to manage.

The outcome for your customers is the same, and in some ways better:

• Instant activation — PPPoE and Hotspot access opens within seconds of M-Pesa payment confirmation
• Automatic suspension — expired accounts are disabled on the router with no manual work
• Bandwidth enforcement — each customer's plan speed is applied on the router itself
• Usage reporting — data usage is collected per customer and shown in your dashboard
• Works behind CGNAT — because the router dials out, you do not need a public IP

So Do You Need RADIUS?

If you already run a RADIUS estate and have the staff for it, RADIUS remains a perfectly good architecture. If you are a growing Kenyan ISP who would rather not operate authentication infrastructure, you do not need it — and Jasiyo does not ask you to.

Start your ISP billing system with Jasiyo →