but hosts like site5 and hostgator will get most client coz they have and the time they spend their time online.

Can you elaborate on that?

Honestly, I do not understand what you mean.

Simon

What Sabeur, wants to explain is this companies are investing in Technical support and thats not a false investments as in this case they need not continously watch on small things going on there server or clients.They can invest sufficient amount of time in offering new plans, good offers and takecare on management level that a sign of growth for a well planned companies.

So I do agree that its not waste in investing some for Technical support.

Support seperates the guy who works from 9am till 5 pm and still holds another job while he does his own tickets , to the company that pays 35k a year for techs and the company works 24/7 , support is crucial as if a customer is trying to make a few bucks being a reseller and he opens ticket he needs hlep or he loses his customer if they have issues, and he cant resolve it fast enough,

sales/marketing is what gets the customer in through the door
support is what keeps them inside

As hosting appears to become more and more a "commodity", more focus is correctly applied to customer service to make provider A stand out from providers B C and D

Very True, there are thousands of hosting companies out there of which a sizeable amount of hosts are kids. So the hosts always look to offer something extra than what others are offering to gain a competitive edge in the business. Offering good and reliable 24/7 technical support is one of them.

I have to argue that costumer support is an important part of and provided service. However, its no the most important part. As with most things, anyone who purchases a service should know how to use it for the most part themselves. But the provider of that service should be prepared to answer any questions and provide assistance for the serivce their charging for.