Some service providers now suspect there’s actually an opportunity in what used to look like a problem: Why not turn digital home repair into a profit center? Companies like The Geek Squad or Geeks on Call, which also offer to fix anything on the home network, generally charge per incident, at prices that start around $30 but escalate quickly. Would customers pay for guaranteed home network fix-it directly from their service provider?  In the UK, British Telecom already offers unlimited home network service for an additional $15 a month—and by early accounts it’s very popular.

So naturally, there are already companies trying to help Internet providers provide the ultimate home network repair service. One of the most sophisticated, Peak8 Solutions, offers an elaborate troubleshooting system, which begins with software that’s downloaded onto the home computer.  The software itself walks customers through all sorts of simpler problems, such as a temporarily lost Internet connection. 

When the customer has bigger conundrums, like that earlier digital meltdown triggered by Dad’s new laptop, the Peak8 software inventories all the gadgets on the home network, from laptops and iPods to digital cameras, and communicates their status to a remote technician.  The technician, in turn, has a constantly-updated database of all known problems with those devices and can take control of the home network to make repairs.  Only as a very last resort does the service provider actually send out a tech.  (The Peak8 service is now also available to consumers, under the name Supportal, for a $10 per month subscription.)

Market analysts continue to argue about whether the PC industry or the consumer electronics industry will end up “owning” the digital living room.  But if the Internet service providers take an increasing role in keeping home networks running, they may also exert influence on customers as to which hardware works best.  Or perhaps they’ll be happy to help untangle any kind of technical mess as long as the customer pays the monthly support fee.  Of course, technologists promise that networks will become much hardier and even develop “self-healing” abilities.  But this time I’m going to listen to my mother, and predict that repairing home networks will be a dependable line of work for years to come. 

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