The access to the customer and technical support that a shared hosting company offers will tell you a lot for the services they offer as well. In the event that you're allowed to use just e-mail messages or tickets, you have most likely discovered a reseller not the web hosting supplier. When this is the case, you will probably have to wait for a few days in order to get an issue resolved since the reseller may not be checking their communication on a regular basis or they may have to contact the actual web hosting company for additional assistance. If the provider provides you with several options for communication with short response time which are available at any moment, they're most likely the top provider, not only a reseller. Therefore you will get well-timed assistance and quality support because they will have direct access to the servers where your account will be created. No matter what the issue - technical or sales, it's always better to be able to get in touch with your web hosting company right away via your preferred way of communication.