The availability of the customer and technical support that a website hosting company offers can tell you a lot about the services that they provide too. In the event that you are allowed to use only e-mail messages or tickets, you have most likely come across a reseller and not the hosting supplier. When this is the case, you will have to wait for several days in order to have an issue resolved as your reseller may not be checking their communication regularly or they may have to get hold of the real web hosting company for further assistance. If the provider provides you with various means of communication with short response time which are available at any time, they're almost certainly the top provider, not only a reseller. Which means that you will receive prompt assistance and high quality support as they will have direct access to the servers where your account is. Regardless of the problem - technical or sales, it's always much better to be able to communicate with your hosting company right away through your favourite way of communication.