Q: Do you have 24/7/365 responsive tech support?
Make sure the host provides its own live tech support and does not outsource. Find a host that can handle your request and solve your problems quickly.

A: CrystalTech's friendly and knowledgeable Support Team is available 24/7/365 via toll-free phone or email with quick access to our servers to provide immediate solutions. No matter the time of day, you will experience minimal to no queue times when you call and a less than 30 minute average response to your email.

Q: Do you provide a full-featured control panel? Is it a proprietary product?
Hosts providing a third-party control panel will rarely be able to offer new tools to their customers as they are dependent on the control panel designer to create them. Hosts with a control panel with minimal features will often have a support staff that is often unavailable or too busy to handle difficult tasks since they need to handle the majority of your website modifications for you.

A: Our Control Center was created, developed and maintained by CrystalTech and provides nearly 100% online management of your website. We continue to add new useful features to the Control Center for an even higher level of functionality for our customers.

Q: What is your referral rate?
This explains the level of service and number of satisfied customers the host has.

A: CrystalTech has an over 75% referral rate from our existing customer base. We want you to be completely satisfied with our hosting and know that your site will be up nearly 100% of the time so you don’t have to worry. Many of our customers are so happy with CrystalTech that they recommend that their friends, family, colleagues, etc. use our services as well.

Q: How long have you been in business? Do you have financial stability?
Even though the hosting industry is still in its infancy stage when compared to other industries, there are a few select companies that have proven their longevity and have been hosting for nearly a decade. Many hosts are still fairly new and may not offer the financial stability to stay in business well into the future.

A: Hosting since 1997, CrystalTech has made a profit from our inception. We are owned by Newtek Business Services™, a premier provider of business services and financial products to small and medium-sized businesses. With a strong financial position, a large customer base and a high referral rate, CrystalTech is aligned to remain an industry leader now and for years to come.

Q: Do you provide an open forum for customers to communicate?
Generally, only hosting companies with a large, knowledgeable support staff can provide and/or support a completely open and live forum. Some hosts may not offer one, participate if they do have one or will not have enough interested posters to maintain an active forum.

A: CrystalTech has an active open forum available to the public. The forum is intended to allow customers to aid each other in the development process, help solve each other’s problems, discuss current technologies and more. It is moderated by CrystalTech employees, and along with our extensive Knowledge Base, offers another valuable support resource for customers.

Q: What is your average response time on emails to Support?
If they say all emails are answered within a certain time frame, confirm this by sending them an email. Ask the host what their average response time is for support emails. Companies who do not have the in-depth control panels and smaller support teams may have longer response times, impractical when your website is not functioning properly or you are not receiving emails.

A: CrystalTech's average response time for support emails is 30 minutes or less, no matter the time of day it is sent.

Q: If I called for tech support, how long would I need to wait?
Test the host to see how fast you get someone on the phone. Ask them a question to test them. Make sure this person is not part of a help desk or general answering queue. See how long it takes to reach a support representative who could fix your problems and answer all of your questions.

A: For the most part, there is little to no hold time to reach a CrystalTech Support Representative. If there was a rare delay and you were in a queue, it is no longer than a minute or two due to the number of representatives available.

Q: Do you require a contract?
Contracts are not necessary in hosting unless you are obtaining non-standard services. Your host should be flexible in regards to your future needs, as you don't know if your website will require additional features or expand beyond your current plan’s storage and bandwidth limits.

A: At CrystalTech, we believe we must earn your service and continue to do so after you become a customer. We do not bind you to a contract and provide you with flexibility so you can grow with us. You can change hosting plans at anytime if your needs change and you require more storage or bandwidth, additional tools, ecommerce options, etc.

Q: What kind of network redundancy do you have?
Make sure the provider has multiple connections to the Internet through different vendors. Make sure they are utilizing high level backbone providers. The closer they are to the backbone, the faster your load time. Do they have advanced redundancy, like the use of multiple carriers if one ISP experiences problems or downtime?

A: CrystalTech uses multiple Tier 1 vendors that cover over 95% of the Internet. This means in 95% of the locations you log onto the Internet, you will not have to cross networks to get to your site/server, nor will your site visitors. This helps increases the speed of your site and reduces any downtime you might see.

If one our chosen carriers is experiencing difficulties or connection failures, we have other carriers to rely on (we have access to over 20 different fiber providers in our datacenter). In addition, CrystalTech uses GigE (Gigabit Ethernet) connections to the Internet for a superior level of thru-put and adequate failure protection.

Q: Where is their datacenter located? Do they have administrators onsite?
Are their servers located in a climate that experiences blizzards, hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, etc. that could greatly affect the host’s uptime and service? Does the host have onsite network administrators to oversee their network, install updates, provision new servers, etc. or are they utilizing a third-party support team?

A: Our state-of-the-art datacenter is located in the stable climate of Scottsdale, Arizona. The CrystalTech datacenter and network are monitored and supported 24/7/365 by our own onsite network administrators. For the utmost in service, uptime and redundancy, our infrastructure features the latest technologies and security precautions. Taking these steps has allowed CrystalTech to become of one the leading providers in Windows hosting and offer some of the highest uptime in the industry.