I am currently re doing a site for a friend and he is on a reseller account. I can talk directly to the owner of our hosting who is using a reseller account. The thing is if I need him to do anything like enable certain stuff or check something. He always has to go ask someone else and basically it takes for ever.
Are all reseller's like this?

I hesitate to say all, but I'd wager that the vast majority of resellers do have to ask their provider to do things out of their control.

In your particular case, without any more details, I'd say that he (being the reseller) may have to look for another provider that can handle requests more efficiently.

Yes, majority of resellers don't have access to the accounts, it makes their upstream providers more comfortable, and I find it reasonable.

The reseller can only be as good as the company he chooses to resell for.
If it takes forever it is probably time for him to move to a host that is a little more responsive.

Best possible answer.

Yeah I have been trying to get him to move to a new server, but he's expecting me to move all his files and databases etc.

It just causes too much hassle for me! I guess I'll help him look for a provider which will move everything.

Thanks guys I just wanted to see if all resellers were like this as I haven't personally used them.

How much is he paying monthly?
It seems you have a viable enough business to consider a VPS.

Check out Servint or a similar service for a fully managed VPS and you can cut out the middle man at a very reasonable price.

I'm not quite sure what he is paying monthly, I'll be sure to ask him when he is next online. I have never considered a VPS for him, maybe thats because I have had no personal experience with a VPS.

I suppose seeing as I am 'managing' his sites for him. To be able to cut out the middle man would make fixes etc, so much quicker.

Thanks Blue I'll have a look at the one you mentioned.

Something to keep in mind, most hosts will transfer accounts for you. Just make sure that they are using the same control panel.

I wonder if someday everyone will just start using reseller hosting instead of plain hosting. I hate not having the control that I do with my own reseller account. I have a couple just to hold my own domains as it's so cheap to buy simple reseller hosting these days.

The learning curve isn't too awful hard with whm and the documentation is readily available.

Maybe, maybe not. With shared hosting often seemingly cheaper than reseller hosting, people might very well stick to it.

I was wondering the one step up. VPS Prices are quite low right now. It seems it has pretty much become the sucessor for Reseller Hosting.

To me, as of right now, it seems VPS fills the gap more than replaces any one type of service. You'll always have people who need the power and storage of a dedicated server and the people who feel like leaving everything up to their host.

Maybe it's just me, but these days, for reselling purposes, I would prefer a reseller account to a VPS, and I would definitely not use a small(ish) VPS to resell. In other words, I think they each has its uses, but they are not completely replacing one another.

There is an upside and downside to both extremes.

A reseller is, as stated, only as good as the provider they choose. At the same time, a non-reseller host, is still only as good as the datacenter they choose.

Some companies feel more comfortable allowing someone else manage the server, and take care of updates, etc While others choose to have that full control.

The key here is that resellers become resellers because it's easier to get into the business that way. It's cheaper.

I shold also point out that not all resellers are middle men. It depends on a few things. One of which is the reseller's relationship with the parent provider. Others include the reseller's knowledge of servers. In many aspects, unless it involves OS updates/addons, etc the reseller has enough control to add a lot of things to only certain accounts, including their own parent reseller account. It's called "Rolling your own", and refers to more than just PHP, etc. you can compile libraries locally, etc,, as well.