Frontier Communications sees itself as more than just a landline provider.  The company has spent years grooming its customer support division into the lucrative business of “on-call technical support” for computer and technology neophytes.  When technical support staff are not helping Frontier’s broadband customers with a service problem, they might be assisting a customer trying to back up (or restore) files from their computer or help with virus or spyware issues.

It all comes at a price, of course — up to $12.99 a month for the “full package” of antivirus software, file backup, and “family-safe” web browsing.

Now Frontier is hoping some of their customers will gift the protection package this holiday season by offering gift cards.  Some 16 Kroger supermarkets in West Virginia will offer two versions — Frontier Secure at $25 for six months and $50 for one year of the company’s “Personal Security Bundle”— a 50 percent discount.

The core of Frontier’s security suite is F-Secure, a lesser-known security package that runs $59.99 a year (direct from their website), for up to three computers.  Substantial discounts can be found elsewhere.

Frontier does not limit the support suite to their customers — anyone can buy-in.  Customers who don’t have a free tech support “agent” in the form of a friend or family member may find the service useful, especially if they require considerable hand-holding.  Frontier certainly finds the product line profitable.  Many customers find themselves attached to at least one of Frontier’s support packages as part of a product bundle, locked in with a 1-3 year service agreement.  Since only a minority of customers may actually require online or telephone customer support, Frontier can book much of the monthly fee as easy revenue.