In case you've ever had a shared hosting account before or you've dealt with any other kind of online service, you are probably aware from personal experience that for many things it is better to speak with a live person over the phone than to exchange support tickets or e-mail messages. If you want to learn more about a service before you buy it or when something small has to be made, for instance, it'll be much easier and a lot faster to get it done in real time. If you can talk with representatives over the phone, it is also very likely that you are dealing with a real website hosting provider, not a reseller. The level of support that you can get over the phone varies between different companies - from standard issues to dedicated technical support. Usually most suppliers supply pre-sales assistance and 1st level telephone support, while more complicated tech matters are handled through electronic mail and / or tickets.