Obviously Support is king, and a very important part of any hosting company. There are many, many threads on how much support you should or shouldnt provide and how you should go about providing that support.

For small starting web hosting companies having someone sat infront of a computer 24/7 is not always possible due to the cost implecations.

So... (for a UK point of view) how can i get a message sent to a device such as a pager or a mobile that indicates that an email has been recieved at a specific email address? The message doesnt have to provide information, it can simply say "Email Recieved" or something similar, just to give an indication that there is a support request awaiting.

Obviously there are cost implications for sending an sms, but are pager messages free? What is the best method for getting such a system up and running? is there software that would need to be installed on the server, or is the email account simply linked to another website that some how monitors your intray?

Advise me...

I don't know much about o2 or other UK mobile provider's pricing but, SMS messages in the USA are dirt cheap. Email to SMS gateways are available on every major provider and this would be trivial to setup.

Pagers on the other hand (if the setup still exists) might cost the same as a cheap SMS message.

So... (for a UK point of view) how can i get a message sent to a device such as a pager or a mobile that indicates that an email has been recieved at a specific email address? The message doesnt have to provide information, it can simply say "Email Recieved" or something similar, just to give an indication that there is a support request awaiting.

...Set up a ticket system, be it free or otherwise (Kayako is wildly popular) and have it notify you by e-mail to your phone and/or SMS when new tickets arrive.

Welcome to being a slave to your clients 24x7, plus having the stress of what to do when you're at the mall and that phone rings you with a message.

Drew

My server sends me email whenever there is a hiccup, such as high server load, the FTP server shuts down, etc. These are usually short emails just requesting a look. I set up an email alias account on my server that would send a copy of the short email to my cell phone. My phone gets like 100 text messages a month included in the price. It was as simple as setting up the account, and forwarding all the mail sent to it to "myphonenumber@mycellphoneprovider.com". It was an easy way to know I needed to go look at things.

Copying your support emails to another email address should be similar, even if you can't read the whole email, you will know something is up and can go check your email to see the whole email. Or like the user above mentioned, set up a ticket system and copy the ticket notice to your cellphone.

I have phones that are handed out and each of them gets a page whenever there is a ticket or there is an outage from a server. Picking one of the carriers that allows unlimited minutes between phones is great as we can communicate at anytime. This also allows flexibility for where people work from since we do cover 24/7.

That's what we do. Just find out what your email address is for your cell phone provider. Requires a simple setup (depending). Very professional convience item for your customers. Gives you and them peice of mind.

The company I work for has used a modem/pager combo for 8 years; works great. If our backbone links have trouble the monitoring servers would have no way to send email pages. The modem method never fails.

That same pager is tied to a local answering service we use to help provide around the clock support when an emergency comes up.

Hi,

You could use bulksms.co.uk to have emails sent to SMS.

Hmmm im starting to get an idea of how to run this now. How about this?

I set up a ticket system, a ticket gets sent to my orange email account when a new email is recieved (which is who im with, with my mobile) and then i should be able to get them to text me an alert to my phone when something appears in my orange email inbox...

Would that work? other possibilites appriciated!

Usually in your billing script you can have it email a new signup alert. If you do not use a billing script, I highly recommend ClientExec. You can then have it email to your cell phone or pagers email address. My personal wireless service is through an American company called Cingular. You may have heard of them. I talked to a service representative and they told that the mobile devices number was ###########@mms.mycingular.com etc etc. When you need email alerts, you can have your billing to email that address and you are good to go. Hope this helps :-D

i would suggest 3rd party support techs, they cost less than an employee.

i would suggest 3rd party support techs, they cost less than an employee.

sorry about this double post of the same thing, there was some sort of error

Ive actually sorted out my orange mobile email account which sends me a free email alert as soon as i get a new email. At the moment im looking at creating a custom support page where the support request is made, the support email then gets sent to the offical support email account AND my mobile email account, i then get an sms to my mobile telling me an email has been recieved.

Also having a custom support page means that i can obtain all required information in that first contact support email from the client eg client name, reference account number etc.

Obviously the only problem with that is that it only works if the support requested is done through the offical support email form, also if further replies from the same email are returned they will not be sent to my mobile phone email account and hence i wont get an sms alert!

Is there any way of setting up my support email accuont to forward a copy of every email to my orange SMS account? hence leaving the original in my support inbox?

hope that makes sense!

I think clickatell.com is truely what you're looking for. I use that for emergency support issues, aswell as an 0870 number.

once again i recommend a 3rd part support tech, you will be charged depending on The Number Of Customers you have, so it will be affordable. they will do all of it for you. you can sleep well at nights and relax throughout the day, instead of worrying about Customer Support

And Yes They Also Do 24/7 Sales Support As Well at No Extra Cost

I Use It And Am Pretty Happy And Relaxed

once again i recommend a 3rd part support tech, you will be charged depending on The Number Of Customers you have, so it will be affordable. they will do all of it for you. you can sleep well at nights and relax throughout the day, instead of worrying about Customer Support

And Yes They Also Do 24/7 Sales Support As Well at No Extra Cost

I think something like this would be a good idea once the business starts to grow, however what i will be needing initially (and what i want) is to provide the support myself, which with a small number of clients shouldnt be too hard!

I simply need a method of knowing when ive recieved a support request (ie via sms). Quite simply a one man solution is needed for the time being (me being the one man!). There is no point in me spending additional money on a support service that i can provide myself!