In the event that you have ever had a hosting account in the past or you've dealt with any other kind of online service, you're probably well aware from your personal experience that for certain things it's better to talk to a live person on the telephone than to exchange support tickets or email messages. In order to find out more about a service before you buy it or in case something small should be done, for instance, it is really much easier and a lot faster to get it done real-time. When you're able to talk with representatives by phone, it is also very likely that you are using the services of a real web hosting supplier, not just a reseller. The type of support that you can get on the phone may differ between different suppliers - from very general issues to experienced tech support. Typically most of the suppliers supply pre-sales assistance and first level phone support, while more complex tech issues are managed via electronic mail and tickets.