Do companies who claim to have 24 x 7 support actually have it? Like for instance if you're offering that kind of support shouldn't you have a technician at the DC all the time, not paged at home when there is a problem, and then the customer has to wait for an hour while the technician makes the commute to the DC.

Is this common? I'm just too curious. ;)

In my opinion, too many hosts think of "24/7 support" as just a few words to spice up their hosting features.

Unless there are staff in the helpdesk waiting for tickets 24 hours a day, 7 days a week then I don't see how 24/7 support can be advertised. In the case of dedicated hosting that also goes for onsite staff being at the DC too.

Just my 2p :)

Alot of companies that advertise 24/7 support do have full-time staff working throughout the day. How they deal with support queries and how prompt they are is another story..

As for having ontime staff working in the DC, I don't believe many companies can offer this. Usually it will be their provider that hires technicians to be in the data center monitoring all server activity.

If the client lives in a different state/province or even country than where their servers are housed, it would be quite impossible for them to even drop by their DC if something goes wrong. But, every company has a different way of handling support and server administration.

We have TRUE 24x7 support. You'd have to speak with the hosting company and send them a few emails. Make sure the response time is good and do a search on WHT to see other comments on the company. I wouldn't trust mosts hosts that say "24x7" support though.:rolleyes:

- Mike

some host's definition of 24X7 support is that they receive emails or support tickets 24X7 unfortunately, not that they actually respond to tickets 24X7.

Some are legit though, and you will have someone answer the phone or working on your ticket soon after you put it in, even at 3:00am.

Originally posted by Synthetic
Alot of companies that advertise 24/7 support do have full-time staff working throughout the day. How they deal with support queries and how prompt they are is another story..

As for having ontime staff working in the DC, I don't believe many companies can offer this. Usually it will be their provider that hires technicians to be in the data center monitoring all server activity.

If the client lives in a different state/province or even country than where their servers are housed, it would be quite impossible for them to even drop by their DC if something goes wrong. But, every company has a different way of handling support and server administration.

Ya, thats what I was thinking. Idealy you want a host that has their office in the same building as their DC. I assumed this was standard practice because my host does this. :) Guess i'm jsut spoiled :D

A 24x7 support is true for mostly those hosts who have their have their own DC. Not for those who colo their servers. It is something like, more people involve in reaching the server, more delays it will make.

My provider has their own DC and they are always watching the servers. They are online with real 24x7 and answer you anytime you ring the bell. This is right to be true but what If the company colocate their servers and have to give the DC a call to solve the problem? It might cost them but makes difficult to give true 24x7.

Greetings:

"Do companies who claim to have 24 x 7 support actually have it?"

Most of the time, yes. Unfortunately not all do.

"Like for instance if you're offering that kind of support shouldn't you have a technician at the DC all the time, not paged at home when there is a problem, and then the customer has to wait for an hour while the technician makes the commute to the DC."

Unless it is a hardware issue, there is no need to drive to the D.C.

Our main business model is built around remote support, and we've managed complex situations from our homes and the office.

Thank you.

It's all too easy to claim 24/7 support via email. The only way to really tell if a host does have 24/7 support is to send them a few tests at 3:00am and see if they respond.

Also, one thing that I have noticed is some hosts say 24/7 support... all email inquiries handled within 12 hours. So... this pretty much negates the fact that they have 24/7 support because if you email them at 3am, they will have untill 3pm the next day to answer the email.

I really don't know why more hosts don't have their help desk staffed at night. I mean... worst case you just outsource it to someone for the night (i know bobcares has a 12 hour night plan that is a bit cheaper than the other plans).

Originally posted by dynamicnet

Unless it is a hardware issue, there is no need to drive to the D.C.


Well, if there is no external reboot switch then you'd need to drive there as well to reboot the server.

Greetings:

"Well, if there is no external reboot switch then you'd need to drive there as well to reboot the server."

Only if a hard reboot is required.

Thank you.

Even so, is 6 hour turn around for a solved problem good? I see that BobCares has 6 hours resolve.

Is that problem resolved or just responded to??
A good ticket response time is under 15 mins.

we have 24*7 tech support...with 1 system Admin on call a week...but if for some reason the admin on call is not answering its up to the other to do the job then get after the admin on call..haha...but we have true 24*7 Tech Support! :cool:

I would think that 24/7 tech support means that you will be provided support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Not, our inbox will collect your mail 24/7 or our ICQ is up 24/7. However, if a company provides you with a means to get ahold of someone at all hours (and they respond. :) ) Then it should be considered 24/7. What does it matter if you wake them up? Hell, at alot of the ISP's I've worked with you woke up a tech at 3pm. They were always sleeping at thier desks.

I give all our dedicated and colo'd customers my personal cell number to call in case of emergency and my partner's also as a backup. I live 15 minutes away from the NOC. I've been called at 4:00am and been in the NOC at 4:30. (I had to get my pants on) I would consider that 24/7 tech support.

Aaron

Originally posted by WII-Aaron
I would think that 24/7 tech support means that you will be provided support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Not, our inbox will collect your mail 24/7 or our ICQ is up 24/7. However, if a company provides you with a means to get ahold of someone at all hours (and they respond. :) ) Then it should be considered 24/7. What does it matter if you wake them up? Hell, at alot of the ISP's I've worked with you woke up a tech at 3pm. They were always sleeping at thier desks.

I give all our dedicated and colo'd customers my personal cell number to call in case of emergency and my partner's also as a backup. I live 15 minutes away from the NOC. I've been called at 4:00am and been in the NOC at 4:30. (I had to get my pants on) I would consider that 24/7 tech support.

Aaron


Reminds me of calling my previous hosting company really late and waking up the really nice girl working support. Always was a little out of it at first, but was incredibly nice to have someone there to talk with and resolve the problem with me right away in the middle of the night (we all know running a business requires minimal sleep, and of course most of your problems happen when everyone else is asleep and not able to help :)

One thing about our services, we are really dedicated to our servers, we have people who are on call for the given night. So if a server decides not to play nice with the network, we get a text message via cell phone, and we go and check it out, that is during the night. And a live chat is also helpful. Our helpdesk is staffed really 24/7, so that all our customers know that someone really does provide 24/7 service.

Originally posted by WII-Aaron
I would think that 24/7 tech support means that you will be provided support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Not, our inbox will collect your mail 24/7 or our ICQ is up 24/7. However, if a company provides you with a means to get ahold of someone at all hours (and they respond. :) ) Then it should be considered 24/7. What does it matter if you wake them up? Hell, at alot of the ISP's I've worked with you woke up a tech at 3pm. They were always sleeping at thier desks.

I give all our dedicated and colo'd customers my personal cell number to call in case of emergency and my partner's also as a backup. I live 15 minutes away from the NOC. I've been called at 4:00am and been in the NOC at 4:30. (I had to get my pants on) I would consider that 24/7 tech support.

Aaron

Hmm, ya I guess so. Forgot about NOC, Not every host owns their own datacenter :). So there are levels of support then. To have a DC actually, physically staffed all night would probably be the top. Then 24/7 phone support/reply, but not actually in the DC...etc.