Our Head office is based in Birmingham and we tend to get most IT equipment dropped off there.  However we do have technicians nationwide who are more than happy for you to drop off your faulty equipment with them.  We also provide a pickup and drop off service for all faulty equipment at a very low fee.  Please contact sales for more info

You bet it is. Just drop your computer off at our head office.  Most upgrades can be done on the same day you bring your PC in and many repairs are completed in about 48 hours. Contact sales for details

If you're bringing in a laptop for service, remember both your power cable and the system discs that came with the computer. For service of a desktop PC, just bring your system discs along.

We take most major credit/debit cards, cheques, cash, SMS Gift Vouchers (While it has no money value, we also welcome dating advice.)

Sure! If you're not satisfied with your service, please contact the Customer services. We guarantee our services for 90 days equipment fixed at our head office. On-site services are guaranteed for 30 days. Remote services are guaranteed for five days. If there is a problem with the service we provided and you notify us within the stated time period, we will work to remedy your problem quickly and at no additional cost. For further details, please ask to see the Terms and Conditions.
Our key components of quality service are:

• A carefully screened and certified team of technicians.
• A set of services crafted to meet all the needs of your home, mobile and small office computer environment.
• A sincere desire to make all our customers happy.
• And, our satisfaction guarantee...

We are dedicated to providing you with the very best possible computer support service. If you are not completely satisfied with your service, please email us at info@smscomputersolutions.com and we will work with you to ensure your satisfaction.

With remote support you do not need to leave the comfort of your home and we can usually fix the problems while you sit back and enjoy a cup of tea.  However some problems can not be rectified remotely and a technician might be required to come on site or you bringing in the PC to our head office for repair. Both offer a similar menu of services, but when you have onsite or head office support we tend to offer special services, most with 48 hour turn around times. In addition, at head office we specialize in Data Recovery, Apple Macintosh® support.

Absolutely!  We're here for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Although our head office has limited hours, you can contact an SMS Technician at any point in time by calling 0845 130 2898. We can talk you through the problem or have a technician sent to your location anytime day or night. (Additional charges may apply for rapid-response emergency services or service outside of standard hours)

A person at least 18 years of age must be present during the entire time period that services are provided. The technician must receive full access to the computer(s) and/or peripheral(s) to be serviced, access to your property, your consent and cooperation to enter your property or business, a safe working environment, working space and electrical power.

Upon arrival, the technician will be required to provide proper identification verifying himself or herself as a employee of SMS Computer Solutions (verbally as well as ID). All Technicians employed by SMS are highly trained in field service. Once completed the technician will provide you with an understandable and concise verbal and written report presenting the particular facts why the equipment became faulty and the conclusive methods or procedures used to rectify the situation or problem.

Remote computer support, also known as 'online support', allows us to remotely view your computer screen and securely fix most computer and network problems right through the Internet via remote control. In fact, it's like watching your computer fix itself! This type of computer support works through 'desktop sharing' technology. What this means is that when you 'log in to our secure online support center', you can allow a technical support representative to 'view' and 'interact' with your computer remotely via the Web - fixing problems fast.

The average remote support session lasts anywhere from 45-60 minutes. However, depending on the type of problems you're experiencing, a session may be shorter or much longer. In situations where the computer problems are severe.  We may recommend a follow up remote session or scheduling for a certified technician to visit you onsite.

Much less than traditional computer support options! By viewing and interacting with your computer directly through the Internet, we can complete the work in much less time, saving you money. There's no need to schedule an on-site visits (costing upwards of £75/hr.) or taking your computer to a local repair shop (also can be expensive).
SMS Computer Solutions charge a very low fee for 60 minutes of remote support.  We encourage you to purchase a full hour or more to take advantage of our discounted rates when you schedule support, or consider an annual support plan. If you don't use all your minutes, we'll save them for you under your account for use at a later date.

No, not until you ask us to log in again and request service. When you log in to our secure online support center you are prompted to download a temporary desktop sharing application and supporting tools that allow us to view and interact with your computer. Once your service is complete and you log off, the temporary application and accompanying tools are automatically deleted from your PC. We can no longer see or access your computer.

Yes. When you log in to our Secure Online Support Center you are initiating a 128-bit encrypted connection between your computer and the technician's computer. In this way, you have set up a unique one-to-one session that no one else can view or access during the session. That ensures your security and privacy.
In addition, you are in control the whole time. Only you can initiate a remote support session and you can end a session by simply closing the support window on your desktop. Further still, you are always in control of your mouse (cursor). During your session you will see the technician using your cursor to locate and fix problems. At any time you can over-ride mouse control by simply moving your mouse.

Traditional computer support options mean you have to wait until you can take your computer to a local repair shop and wait for days for your PC to be repaired (costly) or to wait for a technician to visit your home (also, very costly). Remote computer support allows us to interact directly with your computer so you don't have to perform often complicated telephone instructions on how to fix your computer yourself. In this way our technicians can identify and resolve problems faster, which costs you less.
Many of us don't have time to figure out what's wrong with a PC or network, and would rather have an experienced technician look at their PC. Also, with SMS Computer Solutions, there's no waiting on hold or the need to call multiple vendors for support. So, remote computer support is less expensive, easier to use and much more convenient than traditional computer support or repair services.

Very! By allowing a remote technician to access your computer through the Internet they are able to fix your computer directly. You can simply sit back and watch. Or, you can work on something else while the technician is fixing your computer. Remote computer support is simple, convenient and, best of all, it's 'hands-free'. Simply phone or email SMS Computer Solutions and let go of the mouse and let us fix your PC!

Yes. However, the better you can describe your problems the less time it will take to diagnose your computer and begin fixing problems. In some cases your problems may be difficult to diagnose or can not be located. We will do everything we can to identify and resolve your computer problems, or at the very least, provide suggestions and next steps on resolving any issues. For computers that are over 4 years old, or running Windows 95 or older, we suggest you consider purchasing a new computer before spending a lot of money attempting to repair an older computer.

All our computer technicians have passed one of the following: Microsoft Application Trainers, Microsoft Product Specialists, A+/MCP/MCSE Certified Professionals, Network Administrators and HTML Developers. Every technician is pre-qualified, has 2+ years experience in a help desk environment and completes an extensive two week training course on excellent service delivery and the virtual interface.

Yes. We support Apple Macintosh through our on-site visits or telephone support. Remote computer support for the Apple is not available at this time.

The oldest computers we typically service are PCs that have a Windows 98 operating system. That would make a computer about 5+ years old. If your PC is older than 5 years or has Windows 95/98/ME/2000 it is more difficult to correct problems and prevent new problems from happening. We suggest considering purchasing a new computer if your system is over 5 yrs. old.

Yes. However, in some cases, customers that have a dial-up, mobile wireless or satellite Internet connection may experience longer online support sessions due to limited connection speeds. In addition, older PCs (over 4 yrs) running Windows 98 or Windows ME are less stable and can be more difficult to support through a slower connection. We recommend you talk with sales before you schedule an appointment. You may also consider an on-site appointment when requesting service.

Anything that you could expect to see on a typical network is supported, such as operating systems and applications, servers, workstations, printers, switches, routers, hubs, Internet connections, whole network infrastructures.  For any problems with any part of your network, our helpdesk would be your first port of call.    

We cover all Microsoft operating systems and applications, most versions of Novell, most UNIX and Linux systems and most other major applications such as Citrix, Lotus Notes/Domino.    

Many of our clients have specialist applications.  Some are written and supported by a third party.  We can work with the third party to ensure that everything is running and resolve any problems that may arise.    

No. We will investigate the initial problem and if it turns out that the fault is with the hardware, we will work with you and your hardware supplier to order replacement parts and install them for you, but we do not supply the parts themselves. This is because hardware suppliers are in a much better position to provide spare and replacement parts as they can provide hardware maintenance far more cost effectively than we could. Most companies these days buy hardware with 3-year warranties, so it’s already covered.    

Yes we can supply any hardware, software or licenses you require.

Our charges for our support contract are all different and we tend to work to the customers needs.  Not all clients are going to require a full time support contract. Some may only require a certain amount of hours a month and some may wish to purchase a fixed amount for the year.  Please call sales for more information.

Providing effective network support requires that we know your systems inside out. We need to keep detailed records of how everything is configured so that we can respond quickly and safely when you have a problem. We have remote monitoring systems that can warn us in advance of problems before they become critical. And of course we have to provide sufficient resources so that we always have someone available to deal with your call. All of this costs us money, whether or not you have a problem at any given time. We try to keep the monthly fee as low as we can without sacrificing quality or responsiveness.    

We – and presumably our existing support customers – don’t think so. There are network support providers that charge less than we do and those that charge an awful lot more. We are positioned at the very top of the market in terms of quality and around half way up in terms of cost. Sometimes we carry out work on behalf of other support providers whose rates are two or three times as high as our own, for the same people doing the same work. We’re certainly a lot cheaper than lost data or a day spent without a working computer system. We have come across systems that were so vulnerable the entire business was hanging by a thread. What price would you put on your business?    

It’s simply unrealistic to expect your IT systems to run forever without having any problems and since they are a crucial business asset it’s equally unrealistic not to have them adequately covered. Think of the IT support contract as being insurance for one of your organization’s most valuable assets.    

Depending on the type of support contract you take out with us, we guarantee emergency response times as low as fifteen minutes. Note that these are contractual response times and so represent worst-case scenarios; we normally respond instantly to emergencies.    

We set up remote links to all of our customers’ sites, either using a VPN or using our in-house remote solutions. This allows us to take control of servers and other critical network components within seconds, so that we can respond to problems immediately. A lot of problems can be fixed within minutes, but if we cannot resolve a problem remotely we will go onsite. We aim to be onsite within 4 hours of identifying a problem that cannot be fixed remotely, but it’s usually a lot quicker than that.  

Nearly all types of files may be selected for backup  

It is essential that this is done daily.  In most cases this happens overnight and when the machine is next accessed a confirmation of successful storage would be received.  We can also provide a online solution that will backup your data every night. Contact sales for more details

This depends upon the volume of data stored on your servers as your operating systems would not need the backup.  Once the initial backup has been done, only files that have changed will be backed up daily allowing the backup to be done a lot faster

The service provided will connect through your broadband connection and then encrypted and sent to our secure servers. 

Yes.  The internet can be trusted.  It is safe for your data if the right components are in place such as data encryption, access control, on line backup etc. 

No.  Using encryption and access control on line, your data cannot be viewed by anyone.  With encryption, only you hold the key that is required to translate the data.  Anyone else trying to access it will just see a screen full of nonsense.  Only your authorized staff can look at the data.   

Any organization that has email or an internet connection is vulnerable to the hundreds and thousands of worms, viruses and Trojan Horses going around the Internet.  Some of them will destroy data permanently and cause severe problems to your servers and workstations. 

Let us sort it.  If you don’t wish to buy the required package yourself, we can cater for your business needs.  We can provide the firewall, VPN, virus scanning and any other options that we feel you will need to secure your network.

This depends on the network system that needs protection.  A simple firewall is as little as £150, but can you really put a price on this?  The questions that needs to be asked is how valuable is your data?  If your data was infected with a virus and left it irretrievable, how would that affect your business?

We have an large range of different customers across all industry sectors. Our smallest support customer has only two employees, whilst our biggest has several hundred.  The difference is that for smaller customers we tend to look after everything, whereas with larger customers we tend to support specific systems, provide additional support to existing support teams, or provide specialist skills.    

We have no grey areas and tend to stop finger-pointing with pragmatic approach to problem-solving. We see many customers who have been suffering with some sort of problem for months because the hardware supplier says it's a software problem and the software vendor says it's a hardware problem. We don't operate like that. In most cases our customers don't especially care where the problem lies; they just need it fixed. We operate on a "fix it first; discuss it later" basis. Over the years we have built up a good understanding of our customers and what they want from a outsourced IT Supplier. The things they want are honest objective advice, reliability, effectiveness, value for money and accountability. These attributes are getting rarer in today's cut-throat, short-term profit obsessed climate - and that's what makes us different. We still believe in the old principles of customers success come first and ours second.