Whether you call Gateway on the phone or click on Technical Support at gateway.com, PC Computing magazine says you’re getting the best support in the direct PC business.

In its February 1998 cover story, "Best PC Buys!," PC Computing ranked Gateway number one in technical support among 100 direct PC companies the magazine studied.

"Of all the companies we looked at, none matched Gateway 2000’s level of support," PC Computing wrote. "It isn’t enough that Gateway 2000 offers 24-hour, toll-free support seven days a week, or that its systems have a three-year warranty. The company provides great Web site support too."¹

PC Computing also gave Gateway top-five rankings in Price (number 2), Technology (number 2) and Systems (number 5).

"We are very pleased that the editors of PC Computing have recognized Gateway technical support as the best in the industry," said Eric Larsen, vice president of global customer support. "The computing experience goes beyond just having cutting-edge technologies at great prices. It is also about supporting those products and providing computing solutions for our customers."

Gateway’s technical support Web site includes frequently asked questions, technical tips, software downloads, technical documents, a public newsgroup and an online book that explains various technologies that combine to make a PC.

The technical support area also lets you e-mail questions (hyper link) to a Gateway technician. Larsen said Gateway plans to move more technical support resources to the World Wide Web in 1998.

"Providing a range of support tools for our customers is important to Gateway," continued Larsen, "and we continue to build our support offerings through our web site, e-mail and faxback capabilities. By forming our own Internet Service Provider, gateway.net, we have another vehicle to better serve our customers. Gateway.net not only provides our customers with very easy access to the net, it also serves as another means for us to communicate with Gateway owners."

Currently, Gateway customers can also use their touch-tone phones to get technical support documents from a FaxBack service (800-846-4526), or to use an automated interactive troubleshooting service (800-846-2118) for simpler, frequently asked technical concerns. The system lets customers choose options and answer questions by pressing buttons on their touch-tone phones to quickly narrow down the problem and determine possible solutions.