Tech Services for Residential Mobile Device Users

With the massive influx of mobile devices into consumer households, we’re seeing more of a need for services in that area. New tablets and browsing devices are popping up everywhere, which brings new concerns for residential consumers.

Internet filtering for kids, getting a certain piece of hardware to work on a new tablet, network troubleshooting, linking, and setup for mobile devices, and network expansion are just some of the concerns residential users have with mobile devices. We’ll take a look at some of the services you could provide for residential mobile device users, and perhaps even some business clients, if you haven’t started already.

Existing Hardware Compatibility

Often, when clients ask for recommendations when buying mobile devices, they ask whether it will work with current existing hardware they use on their desktop or laptop. For instance, they might have a USB printer, a scanner, or perhaps an entertainment center of some sort. However, sometimes they go ahead and get the device first before checking, and then it’s up to you to come and try and set up a ‘work-around’ so they can still use that old hardware. You could try recommending a consulting service to all current clients, to help them determine what device will suit their needs the best.

If they’ve already bought the device, ask if there’s any hardware they haven’t been able to connect to it yet, and offer to set that up for them, if it is possible. If there’s not currently an app for it, don’t despair. A few months ago I tried to find an app for a popular VOIP system, and the only option was to follow a rather complicated list of steps to get it working on a specific tablet. However, recently, an app developer has created an app that covers exactly what I needed, and while it has mixed reviews, it’s a simple working solution that will improve. If an app doesn’t exist for what you need, just check back later, or suggest it if you can find a developer with similar interests.

Internet Filtering for Kids

From what I’ve seen, this is a major concern for many families in the residential sector. When most families only used one or more desktop computers in the house, often the machine would be set up in an area where it could be easily supervised. Now, kids can take their tablets almost anywhere, and supervision is lacking in many households because of how portable the devices are. Offer a service for households where you can determine how tech savvy the kids are, and offer filtering solutions based on that.

The reason I mention that discernment is because finding the answer on Google to ‘bypass (insert filtering system here)’ is just too easy. OpenDNS is a good solution for protecting an entire household network, but it won’t work if the kids know how to enter DNS numbers or use proxies. It’s good for general internet use just to protect from nasty popups and unexpected advertisements of an inappropriate nature, and it will display a ‘blocked domain’ if someone tries to access something that has been blocked.

There’s a rather popular filtering system that is very good called Net Nanny. It’s not completely foolproof, because nothing really is. If someone designed the security feature, someone else can bypass it, given enough time. However, Net Nanny is a more comprehensive option, and while it’s not free, it may be what is needed. I’m not going to go through the whole list of features here, but you can visit the official site and discover more about it there. I’m simply suggesting offering filtering protection for clients with families.

Networking Solutions

Now that Bobby has his tablet and uses it everywhere, in his bedroom, the rec room, outside in the lawn at night with his telescope looking for Leonids… that small router just doesn’t cut it. You might consider offering network expansion consulting, or just the expansion service itself, if the residence is small enough to just put another network access point up. We’ve covered Wi-Fi troubleshooting and recommended some software to use in another article, so check it out if you need a few ideas.

Then there’s Carl… after his homework is done he powers up the gaming machine and suddenly no one else is able to use the internet efficiently. While there are other options, you could offer to set up throttling rules on the networking hardware to ensure everyone can get along, or relegate gaming time to a time when no one else is attempting to use heavy bandwidth. For many households, increasing the bandwidth speed and upgrading their service package isn’t an option, or they would rather just regulate internet use anyway. That’s just an example of another service you could offer.

Device Setup

Many clients want all their photos, common documents, bookmarks, and everything else moved to their mobile device, but they’re not sure how to do it or are afraid they might mess something up if they try. You could offer a migration service, moving everything they need from their previous desktop or laptop machine to their mobile device. You could even offer different tiers of service, and offer bonus apps that you think might suit their needs based on what they’re asking that you move. Ensuring their data is backed up in the cloud or synchronized between all their devices might also be an important option they haven’t considered, but if you cover all the bases you should be able to offer a well rounded service that does exactly what your clients need.

The more experience you have with different tablets, consumer use, and business use, the better you’ll be able to discern what would appeal to each client. Moving into the mobile device tech industry opens a large door, with more business for you inside.