Verizon sells PC support service

Verizon is selling advanced PC support as a service to its DSL customers, offering consumers and businesses unlimited support for a $9.99 monthly fee. The new service creates a revenue stream from what has been a cost center for high-speed Internet access providers.

Verizon’s Premium Technical Support will help consumers deal with spyware, adware, viruses, Internet security, hardware issues, computer operating systems and other issues that arise. Verizon’s service is being rolled out at a time when consumers are finding it harder to get free support from either PC or software makers.

Based on its trial of the service, Verizon believes customers want this kind of support from their ISP, a company spokesman said. “Where they had another place to go for this kind of service, they found it was much more expensive,” he said.

The service specifically targets the DSL customer base and not customers of Verizon’s FiOS fiber-to-the-home service, who already get extensive customer support, the spokesman said.

BellSouth was testing such a service in Atlanta at the time it was acquired by AT&T. What service providers have found is that, as customer service elsewhere was harder to get or came with a price tag, their high-speed Internet access customers were increasingly calling their service provider for help with more than just the service.

“Our customers need help with more than just their online service, and now they can get it from us right away,” said Frank Nelson, director of Verizon Broadband Solutions Group, in a prepared statement. “Verizon support is available over the phone to solve a variety of computer problems, and customers can avoid expensive, in-home or business service calls.”

The company also said, however, that later this month, consumers who call Verizon with non-service related questions or problems will learn they have to pay, either on a one-time usage basis or by monthly subscription.

Subscribers to Verizon’s new service will get a special toll-free number that is available to them around-the-clock, connecting them to customer service representatives trained in PC problem-solving. The company said it will support additional computer components and peripherals including routers, network cards, video cards, sound cards, CD/DVD reader-writer, hard drives, flash memory systems, printers, scanners, gaming consoles and firewalls. Verizon isn’t supporting Apple Mac operating systems, however, limiting its expertise to Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98 and Windows Me.