Gomez Peer Zone – Honest Review

Gomez Peer Zone: Worth Your Time or Worthless?

Gomez Peer Zone is a subsidiary of Compuware Gomez (which has been around since 1997). They have a good Better Business Bureau rating and are one of many work-at-home opportunities that can help you earn some extra income.

What is Gomez PEER Zone?

Because the Internet plays such a major role in a company’s business, often times, they need their websites to be tested in order to identify problems that may exist that negatively impacts a visitor’s experience. This is where Gomez Peer Zone helps. They run these tests on the websites to see if any problems do exist. They test the website’s performance based on the connection type (i.e., Dial-up, Cable, DSL, etc.), the browser being used (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.), the number of users and anything else that is pertinent to the website’s function. Gomez PEER Zone uses regular people, like you, to run these tests and provide the information through your own computer.

Getting Started

To become a member of their PEER community, you need to fill out an application and download their free PEER software. You need to leave your computer on so they know when it is ready. This is known as their “pending” status. Eventually, your account will be converted to “active” status. However, demographics play a role here in addition to picking only people whose computers are almost always available. Once you do become active, Gomez PEER Zone will begin using the downloaded software to test the website’s speed and performance.

Do not worry about it interfering with your computer. It does not keep track of what you are doing or where you are going on your computer. The only thing it knows is if your computer is on and if the software is running. It runs in the background and you can have it set so that you do not ever see it unless you decide to check the stats.

Technology Requirements

There are some basic computer needs in order to join the PEER community including an Internet connection, a 500 Mhz Pentium 3 or better, 128 MB RAM, 40 MB of free hard disk space and either Windows XP, NT, 2000 or 2003 operating system. You will also need to be able to visit secured or SSL encrypted pages.

How much money will you make?

Becoming part of the PEER community will by no means provide you with a livable income, but no one uses any of these work-at-home opportunities expecting to make big bucks. The monthly threshold to get paid is low—five dollars—which is nice considering it takes a while to even reach that amount.

Depending on what country you live in will determine your rate of pay. Unfortunately, residents of the United States will be paid one of the lowest rates ($0.000125 per minute). This payment is based on a fraction of a penny for every minute they use your computer to run a test. Residents of Canada have a higher rate ($0.0005000).

A majority of the rest gets paid $0.000250. Why is there such a discrepancy in pay? Most likely the reason is because there are countless ways to get technical information in the United States about their Internet connections and usage. Some of you may already be thinking that when you sign up, you will claim on your form that you live in one of the higher paying countries. This will not work since they go by your IP address.

The time they spend running the test is credited in fifteen-minute increments. The maximum amount per day is $0.8. If you are logged on all day, every day, you will easily hit that five-dollar monthly threshold.

Can You Make More Money?

You absolutely have an opportunity through Gomez PEER Zone to make more money through their referral program—of course. If you make a referral and they reach active status, you will be paid one dollar. Not a bad deal, but you know how it is with referrals. Just because you refer someone does not mean they will follow through with the program. The company does provide banners that you can put on your website to help you get new referrals.

Tracking Your Money

With those odd amounts you get per minute, it is nothing but a mathematical nightmare trying to figure out how much you are earning. As part of your download, you get a status page which will tell you exactly how many minutes you have been logged on, how many of those minutes they used to process a request on your computer and how many of your referrals are active. This status page can either pop up every time you open Windows or you can have it as part of the status bar icon.

Getting payment from Gomez PEER Zone is easy. Payment is made on the first of the month via PayPal (after you reach the five dollar threshold). The maximum month amount you can make is forty-five dollars.

The Pros

There is a lot to like about this company, including:

1. The low five-dollar threshold means they are not going to have you wait a very long time to see some money.

2. They use PayPal, which has a reputation of being reliable, safe and easy.
3. In terms of longevity, they seem to have it. They are not still in beta or just launched which means they have a very good track record which is a comfortable feeling for most people.

4. Making money with them requires nothing but keeping your computer online. Most of you probably do that now already so this is an opportunity that takes no effort.

5. If you have more than one computer, you can double (or triple) your income. Simply use the same e-mail and user account name and let the program run on every computer you have.

6. Many similar opportunities change ads on their software and did odd things which no website owner really likes. Gomez PEER Zone does not do this and it is highly appreciated.

The Cons

With the good comes the bad sometimes. Gomez PEER Zone does have some sticky points like:

1. In order to make money you need to leave your computer on—all the time. But this also means you have to disable the sleep mode and automatic shut down features that save energy on your computer. And if you decide to use your laptop for this, you may run into a problem as many laptops need to be shut down for a short time or they start to act funny. Something to consider when looking into this opportunity.

2. There is no guarantee that you will get to active status and if you do, you still may have to wait a few months for anything to happen. They also are particular in terms of demographics, which may further delay your active status. Many people think the company is a scam because they are never active, but that is not the case. You can still make money through referrals, however.

3. If you have a Mac, you are out of luck. This is a PC-based opportunity.

4. Some people do not like the pay discrepancy based on residency. Unfortunately, this is how they work and there is nothing you can do about it—other than move.

5. PayPal is great, but not to everybody. For whatever reasons, some people dislike PayPal and since this is the only method of payment they use, those people may be turned off by this at-home opportunity. One word of advice—be sure to use the e-mail address that you use with PayPal when you join or else you will not get paid.

6. Slow or old computers may get worse by the addition of the downloaded software. They claim that their program will not affect how your computer functions, but if it is slow to begin with or on its last leg, having another software program added on may not be the best idea.

Is Gomez PEER Zone Legitimate?

The company is legitimate and the fact they have been around for so long is a testament to that. They have a good track record of making payments and the best part is you do not have to do anything to earn those payments. Five dollars a month may not be much, but if this is just one of many at-home opportunities you are involved with, it certainly will help. Gomez Application

UPDATE: This program shut down on October 1, 2019.
Note: There are other programs that are similar though. Be sure to check out other great ways to make extra cash.