This is something that has always piqued my curiousity since the advent of massive outsourcing. Is there a difference between the quality of support you receive via phone versus the support your receive online?

It seems to me that whenever I have had a minor problem with one of my hosts in the past that I would shoot off a trouble ticket and it would probably get fixed, though sometimes there were errors made on the part of the tech.

However, whenever I call them up the support has never failed and it seems as though the person I'm talking to is much more knowledgeable than the responses I get online. Also, it seems as though there are much fewer people working the phones than online tickets. I'll often talk to the same person on the phone, but rarely will I get the same person to answer my trouble ticket. It always made me wonder:

Do hosts farm out their online support to support outsourcers, or do they just have a large amount of less sharper tools working via email?

That is one of the reasons why i think Phone support is better that Helpdesk, you can talk to the tech directly, and avoid any problems.

For those who prefer helpdesk, the only way to avoid errors is to describe the problem in great detail

Helpdesk or Email allows a host to keep track of issues.

Phone support is good but takes up more time and money.
The cost of the phone call to the end user, the time for tech to speak to the end user etc it all costs money. But if you’re paying a decent amount then you would expect phone support

A support ticket can be answered anywhere in the world at any time.

Some providers do outsource one example would be hivelocity who outsource to some foreign country

It all depends on the tech's knowledge of how much capable they are, who attends the call or who solves the trouble ticket. The person in the phone support might have much knowledge than the online tech or vice-versa. So it cannot be fully rely on the phone support or fully rely on the online support.

Well overall it would not be a good idea to outsource the phone calls. It may be cheaper and be able to shuffle the customers, but if you are outsourcing to some inexperienced foreign country and the customers can barely understand them, then there is not much to the communication. It all comes down to a form of understanding and the ability to communicate. If a companies support techs can not communicate via email or phone support then its a waste of money, time and effort. A good support technician will know their services well enough to identify a problem off a brief description of the problem itself through phone or email support.

phone support is much too costly once you hit a large number of customers. then you have to have the place staffed with tons of people who can only handle one issue at a time rather than being able to calmly handle multiple issues as they won't be able to leave the phone for long. It's very difficult to treat your customers right in most instances.

TheHostHunter,

It sounds like the host you were using had a quality difference between their phone support and their helpdesk support. I don't think you will find this true in all cases - many hosts are able to provide the same level of support whether through phone or helpdesk.

phone support is an added benefit, for the hosting company and the customer. Not everyone likes to explain things via email. and it is sometimes quicker and easier to pick up the telephone. If you have both then you please everyone.

I know many people think phone support is great, because people want to call up and get instant satifaction, and they think it's faster.

The truth is it it much easier and quicker to resolve a real technical issue when you have a good email sent to you to explain the problem, where it happened, what you were doing at the time, etc. You have time to research the issue fully, test out your solution, and email back any details needed. And with all that, both client and tech have real documentation of an issue.

People who feel they need to call in only end up explaining the issue over again if the same problem occurs a week later, and the person they talked to that fixed it before isn't there. "So-and-so usually just hits the button for me, you know?"
Well, no, I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about. If you'd emailed in to begin with, I could go back, look at what your issue was, and read the other tech's response to know what exactly they did.

Much smoother and more effective.

Phone support is great for fast answers, like "I think my domain expired", "how do I set up my email", and "is my domain/hositng account with you?"

I agree with MelodyAnn.
I usually bypass threads about "phone support" that I see in various forums.
Everyone will have their own opinion and its my belief to do what works best for you and your company.

Ive been in biz since 1999. At one time we offered an 800 number but due to abuse of the line in general we discontinued that. Lots of spamming, prank calls.
When we started too we relied mainly on "email support" only. Worked fine then and still does but now we do have the option of using the ticket system as well.

Having written documentation in front of you is always better. If clients "request a call" we will oblige.

i will always use email support. thats the solid proof of what i facing and action taken by support. in further issue, i can attach these emails as proof.

phone support cant used as proof in anything. take this as a point