At TechCastle, we specialize in computer services for home and small business users. Our services can be broken down into 7 categories: Networking/Internet, Computer Setup/Optimization, Repair/Upgrade, Protect/Save, Accessory/Peripheral Setup, Scripting, and Training. Below, you will find a matrix of our pricing structure as well as a comparison to similar services available from Geek Squad, FireDog, and EasyTech. Please note, prices do not reflect any additional hardware which may be required such as a router, print server, memory, etc. If additional hardware is necessary, we will comparison shop for you to find the best possible price on the hardware needed, as well as present opinions on brand quality, so that you get the best service for your money. We will also purchase any necessary hardware for you, for an additional 10% of the purchase price added onto the cost of the hardware (cost plus tax times .10).
If you need service that is not listed below, please contact us to inquire about pricing!
| Networking/Internet | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Service | TechCastle | Geek Squad | FireDog | EasyTech |
| New Network Survey: We will come to your home or small business, survey your existing setup, and determine what would be required to establish a new network in your location. | $30.00 | $49.00 | $- | $- |
| New Network Setup: We will come to your home or small business to setup your network, which includes up to 5 devices in any combination. This includes setting up your wired/wireless router, making sure all components are on the network, secure your wireless network (if applicable), and ensure that all computers can communicate with each other. If you purchase the New Network Survey first, we will take that $25 off the price of the New Network Setup. You may add additional devices at time of New Network Setup for $20 each. | $120.00 | $199.001 | $159.992 | $129.993 |
| Network Troubleshooting/Repair: We will come to your home or small business, investigate the why your network is not behaving, and repair it for you. Please note, if this repair process involves working with phone support from your ISP, there will be an additional charge of $15.00 per hour for this service, billable in 15 minute increments. | $80.00 | $159.004 | $- | $- |
| Wireless Security Check/Setup: Is your wireless network secure? Are you sharing your bandwidth with your neighbors? Is someone watching your internet activity in your neighborhood? We will come to your home or small business, check your wireless network for the proper security hardness, and establish a secure network if necessary. | $30.00 | $59.00 | $59.99 | $- |
| Add Network Device: We will come to your home or small business and add additional devices to your existing network, test connectivity, and test communications (where applicable) between components. Devices include computers, game consoles, print servers, etc. | $50.00 | $159.00 | $- | $- | Computer Setup/Optimization |
| Service | TechCastle | Geek Squad | FireDog | EasyTech |
| New PC Consultation: If you are not sure which PC would best suit your needs, let us help you come to the best decision. We will come to your home or small office, assess your needs and desires, and recommend a system configuration to you which will meet or exceed all your stated objectives. | $30.00 | $- | $- | $- |
| New PC Setup: So you bought a new PC, but you are not sure what to do next? We will come to your home or small office and setup your PC for you. This includes all physical wiring, evaluation of "trialware" included with the PC for removal, optimize your new PC, ensure internet connectivity, install system updates, establish user accounts on your new PC, configure e-mail accounts, and install up to 3 additional software titles. | $100.00 | $99.005 | $139.996 | $129.997 |
| Computer Optimization: If your computer is moving too slowly, or you have software you would like to remove, we are here to help you. We will come to your home or small office and perform optimization checks and changes on your computer. These changes include, but are not limited to: uninstalling unnecessary or unwanted software, ensuring your paging file is sized properly, stop unnecessary processes from starting at system boot, and performing hard drive clean-up. | $40.00 | $129.00 | $- | $- | Repair/Upgrade |
| Service | TechCastle | Geek Squad | FireDog | EasyTech |
| Diagnostic Fee: If you are not sure what is plaguiging your PC, we will come to your home or small office and diagnose the problem for you. We will run your computer through a series of tests and checks aimed at diagnosing what is wrong with your computer, and advise you of the issue. This fee is mandatory for all repair calls received by TechCastle. | $30.00 | $159.00 | $159.99 | $129.99 |
| Basic Repair: We will come to your home or small business and perform basic repairs on your computer system. Basic repairs are ones in which there are no hardware repairs involved, such as replacing memory or hard drive. TechCastle rates are per hour, billable in 15 minute increments, while our competitors charge a flat fee. | $50.00 | $249.00 | $- | $319.99 |
| Advanced Repair: We will come to your home or small business and perform advanced repairs on your computer system. Advanced repairs are ones in which there are hardware repairs involved, such as replacing memory or hard drive. Also, please note that this price does not include switching a bad motherboard. For that price, please contact us to inquire about the service. TechCastle rates are per hour, billable in 15 minute increments, while our competitors charge a flat fee. | $80.00 | $349.00 | $- | $319.99 |
| Hardware Upgrade: Do you wish you had a DVD-RAM drive instead of a CD-ROM? Is your video card displaying images that remind you of 1950's television programming? If so, it is time for an upgrade, and TechCastle would be pleased to help you. We will come to your home or small business and upgrade your needed components for you. These upgrades can include installing a new video card, upgrading memory, adding a secondary hard drive, replacing a media drive (CD/DVD), etc. | $60.00 | $159.00 | $139.998 | $159.999 |
| Software Installation: Do you need assistance installing a piece of software correctly on your machine? We will come to your home or small business and install the software for you. We will talk over the options with you that are presented, to ensure we install exactly what you want of the software. | $50.00 | $129.00 | $129.99 | $129.99 | Protect/Save |
| Service | TechCastle | Geek Squad | FireDog | EasyTech |
| One Time Data Backup: Do you have important data you would like to backup? We will come to your home or small business and backup your data, up to 9.4GB of data, onto a CD/DVD/USB FlashDrive/External Hard Drive. | $125.00 | $229.00 | $199.99 | $159.9910 |
| On-Going Data Backups: Do you have data that you would like to backup on a daily/weekly/monthly basis? We will come to your home or small office and setup your computer to run automated backups of critical data onto a secondary internal hard drive, USB hard drive, or network share folder. | $125.00 | $229.00 | $- | $- | Accessory/Peripheral Setup |
| Service | TechCastle | Geek Squad | FireDog | EasyTech |
| Accessory Setup: Have you recently purchased an IPod and don't know how to get started? Want to understand how to get pictures from your digital camera to your PC? We will come to your home or small office and help you get your accessory setup to connect to your PC, and show you how to operate that accessory efficiently. We will also show you how to best use your PC with your accessory (for instance, moving your music to your IPod). | $50.00 | $49.0011 | $149.99 | $- |
| Peripheral Setup: We will come to your home or small office and setup your peripheral for you. This service includes wiring the peripheral to your PC, installing any needed drivers on the computer, and make sure that the peripheral is working properly. Examples of peripherals would include printers and USB hard drives. | $50.00 | $49.0011 | $29.9912 | $- | Scripting |
| Service | TechCastle | Geek Squad | FireDog | EasyTech |
| Scripting: Do you have a project that involves repetitive tasks? Are you working on organizing your digital music, and want to put them all into a database? Do you have some file moving you perform quite a few times a day or week? If so, let us script a solution for you. We will come to your home or small business, discuss your needs with you, evaluate how feasible a scripted solution is for your situation, develop and debug a script for you, install and configure it for you, and show you how to operate the script. Scripting is billed on an hourly basis, billed in 15 minute increments, with guaranteed honest accounting of all time spent on the project. Please note, that perl is the scripting language of choice for TechCastle. If you do not have Perl installed on the machine the script will run from, we will install and configure Perl for you at no additional charge. | $60.00 | $- | $- | $- | Training |
| Service | TechCastle | Geek Squad | FireDog | EasyTech |
| Basic Training: We will come to your home or small business and provide you basic PC training. This would include training on things like basic PC use, basic PC cleanup, basic PC optimization, and anything that is not software-specific. TechCastle rates are per hour, billable in 15 minute increments, while our competitors charge a flat fee. | $60.00 | $159.0013 | $159.99 | $- |
| Advanced Training: We will come to your home or small business and provide you advanced training, which is software-specific. This training can be on software such as Microsoft Word, Perl, etc. Please contact us with your specific needs to see if we have the expertise needed to effectively train you in the subject of your choice. TechCastle rates are per hour, billable in 15 minute increments, while our competitors charge a flat fee. | $75.00 | $159.0013 | $159.99 | $- |
1: Geek Squad allows additional components to be added at time of setup for $49 each.
2: Firedog price is for 2 wirelss PCs only.
3: EasyTech price is for 1 computer only. 2 computers, or 1 computer/1 printer, costs $149.99. 3 computers, or any combination of computers/printers, costs $189.99.
4: Geek Squad does not include ISP troubleshooting at this price; they charge $159.00 to troubleshoot your ISP connectivity issues.
5: Geek Squad services are limited to physical wiring, internet connectivity, and network security check (which we include under "PC Optimization".
6: FireDog services are limited to user configuraiton, PC optimization, install updates, and install 2 software titles.
7: EasyTech services are limited to physical wiring and quick diagnostic to ensure that your PC is working properly. They charge an additional $129.99 to configure email accounts, set passwords, perform admin functions, create profiles, and adjust system settings (included under "PC Optimization").
8: FireDog price is for installation of a new hard drive or DVD drive only - it does not include video cards, memory, etc.
9: EasyTech price is price of new hard drive installation only. All other upgrades cost $129.99
10: EasyTech pricing is only for 4.7GB of data. They say additional transfer above 4.7GB is subject to additional pricing, but does not indicate what that pricing would be.
11: Geek Squad does not offer this service in-home, or in-store; it is only offered via "remote" (i.e. telephone) support.
12: FireDog does not offer this service in-home, only in-store.
2: Firedog price is for 2 wirelss PCs only.
3: EasyTech price is for 1 computer only. 2 computers, or 1 computer/1 printer, costs $149.99. 3 computers, or any combination of computers/printers, costs $189.99.
4: Geek Squad does not include ISP troubleshooting at this price; they charge $159.00 to troubleshoot your ISP connectivity issues.
5: Geek Squad services are limited to physical wiring, internet connectivity, and network security check (which we include under "PC Optimization".
6: FireDog services are limited to user configuraiton, PC optimization, install updates, and install 2 software titles.
7: EasyTech services are limited to physical wiring and quick diagnostic to ensure that your PC is working properly. They charge an additional $129.99 to configure email accounts, set passwords, perform admin functions, create profiles, and adjust system settings (included under "PC Optimization").
8: FireDog price is for installation of a new hard drive or DVD drive only - it does not include video cards, memory, etc.
9: EasyTech price is price of new hard drive installation only. All other upgrades cost $129.99
10: EasyTech pricing is only for 4.7GB of data. They say additional transfer above 4.7GB is subject to additional pricing, but does not indicate what that pricing would be.
11: Geek Squad does not offer this service in-home, or in-store; it is only offered via "remote" (i.e. telephone) support.
12: FireDog does not offer this service in-home, only in-store.