Email Support
Be sure to always mention your Order ID or Account ID when contacting email support. The average response time for email is around 1 hour. Everything below one hour is a good measurement of quality host. Certain times, like on weekends and late nights, support can take up to 6 hours in worst case scenario. So if you want a fast response make sure to chose other point of contact. See below.

Live Chat Support
9/10 companies nowadays have a Live Chat function. Even though it's suppose to work as an upsell feature the live operators are skilled enough to handle tough questions in regards to installation, domain and code related issues.

Phone Support
The large cost associated with having a large phone support center has led to the hosting industry's "Decease of the 21st Century", aka outsourcing. So even though you are sitting in Nevada and counting cards i Vegas when your blog goes down, don't be too condident that your appointed support person knows where Nevada is located. Not that it really matters since web hosting is shared through multiple redundant servers across the globe, but hey: at least he or she could greet you with a "Hey big spender, any luck at the tables lately?". Those days are defintely over but more and more hosting companies realize that it doesn't matter WHERE the support is, the important thing it's AMERICAN native speakers. A good phone support system with or without outsourcing shouldn't take more than 1-2mins to pick up your call. Not even on busy days!

Ticket System Support
One advantage over email support is that you, once logged in, can create a ticket in the system without having to keep track of your Order ID or Account information. A username and password is enough. Another advantage is the historical tracking that comes with a ticket system. No matter how many years later you created the ticket it's still there. Very handy when it comes to domain related questions such as passwords, logins etc. Most ticket systems are secure through a 1024-bits SSL encryption pipe.

Wiki/ Knowledge Based Support
It seemed like yesterday when we called it a knowledge base. Today a few years later, who needs such a thing when Wikipedia came along? Nearly all hosting providers have an FAQ wiki today.

Video/Flash Tutorials
Production costs for videos are less today than just a few years ago. YouTube has created a cheap and much more reliable teaching system than pure texts. Almost a comparison between the first text based computer with Windows installed stood eye to eye with an Apple Macintosh. Video is here to stay and thank god for that. No need for to read booring manuals or email support. Just fire up YouTube or your hosting providers video section and you will instantly find the problem to your hosting or installation problem.

Demo Logins
I happen to like demo logins. It gives a feeling of security if I have found what I am looking for in a web host. What could potential be a costly mistake is now in the past. Unfortunately not many providers offers their potential customers to view a demo account/login before purchase. They still live in the bait and switch world. Transparency is the new currency my friends. Support it!