FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
FAQs — Answered in Plain English
Pricing, onboarding, security, migrations, support hours, and coverage area — the questions clients ask most often, with the same answers you would get on a discovery call.
BEFORE YOU REACH OUT
Getting Started
How do I get started with Bytes Unlimited?
Submit the form on the Contact page or call (619) 535-6104. Most new inquiries get a reply within one business day. The first step is a free 30-minute discovery call to understand your environment, goals, and budget — no obligation.
What does the discovery call cover?
We walk through your current IT environment, existing pain points, compliance requirements (HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2), security posture, and what success looks like. We finish with a sense of whether we are the right fit and what a scoped engagement would look like. No pitch decks, no high-pressure follow-up.
Is there a contract minimum?
For managed IT contracts, we typically work in 12-month terms with month-to-month options available at a slightly higher rate. Project work is scoped per engagement with no recurring commitment. Hosting plans are month-to-month or annual — see the Hosting page for details.
Can I start with just one service, then add more later?
Yes. Many clients start with one area — WordPress hosting, a security audit, a Google Workspace deployment — and expand into managed IT over time. There is no all-or-nothing requirement.
Do you take on small or one-person businesses?
Yes. We work with solopreneurs, one-person consultancies, and small shops. The minimum is whatever scope lets us deliver responsibly — sometimes that is a single Google Workspace migration, sometimes full managed IT for a 50-person firm. Reach out and we will scope to fit.
WHAT WE DO
Services & Scope
What services do you offer?
Managed IT, cybersecurity and compliance work, AWS cloud architecture, Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 deployments, SonicWall network security, Duo MFA, Bitdefender GravityZone endpoint protection, Cloudflare, WordPress management and hosting, and security awareness training. See the Services page for the full catalog with detail on each.
Do you handle hardware procurement?
Commodity hardware (workstations, monitors, peripherals) is not a primary offering — we will help you spec what you need, but the order typically direct-ships from Amazon Business or TD Synnex with the manufacturer warranty owned by the vendor, not by us. SonicWall network appliances are the exception: those flow through our SonicWall partner channel and are sold by us directly. For everything else, our value is the architecture and configuration work, not the hardware margin.
Do you do break-fix work or only managed contracts?
Both. Project and break-fix engagements are available without a managed contract — useful for one-off needs like a server migration, a compromise response, or a compliance audit. Managed contracts are for clients who want ongoing monitoring, patching, helpdesk, and security as a continuous service.
Can you take over an IT environment from another provider?
Yes. Migrating from another MSP, an in-house IT person, or "the owner does it" is routine. We start with a discovery audit of what is in place, document gaps, and propose a transition plan that minimizes disruption.
What do you NOT do?
Our core focus is senior engineering for small and medium businesses, so we do not typically take on consumer-grade home IT support, residential WiFi installs, one-off PC repair for individuals, or Tier-1 helpdesk volume for large enterprises. Specific exceptions are evaluated case-by-case — reach out and we can talk through whether it makes sense.
WHAT IT COSTS
Pricing & Billing
How is pricing structured?
Managed IT contracts are priced per user or per device per month with a base monthly minimum. Project work is fixed-bid or time-and-materials depending on scope clarity. Hosting plans have published per-site pricing on the Hosting page. Managed-contract rates are not published because they vary too much by environment — the discovery call ends with a clear quote.
Why do you not publish managed-IT pricing?
Honestly: a number on a page would mislead more than help. Two businesses with the same headcount can have wildly different scopes (compliance requirements, on-prem servers, multi-site, legacy applications). We quote real numbers after the discovery call so the price reflects what we are actually being asked to deliver.
Are managed contracts month-to-month or annual?
Both options are available. The default is a 12-month term with reviews on demand or when business conditions change. Month-to-month is available at a slightly higher rate to cover the extra onboarding and offboarding risk. Quarterly review checkpoints are available as a security-audit or site-review add-on for clients who want a formal recurring cadence.
What is included in a typical managed IT monthly fee?
Patching, endpoint monitoring, business-hours helpdesk, security alerting, MFA management, backup verification, periodic security posture reviews, and access to our partner-channel pricing on Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, SonicWall, and Bitdefender. Specific scope is set in the contract — no hidden bundles.
How do you handle billing?
Monthly invoicing payable via ACH, Zelle, or check. Net 15 standard terms. Late fees apply after 7 days past due unless a written notice has been given and an extension explicitly granted — we are not in the business of nickel-and-diming small clients.
OUR SECURITY POSTURE
Security & Compliance
How do you handle data security in client environments?
All client interactions run through MFA-enforced accounts. Our internal tooling sits on managed endpoints with behavioral defense and ransomware rollback. Secrets live in a dedicated password manager, not shared documents. We follow least-privilege access for everything we touch in client environments. For clients with substantive HIPAA-covered workloads, a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) can be signed after scoping — BAAs are not signed as a casual default.
Do you support HIPAA, PCI DSS, or SOC 2 audits?
Yes. PCI DSS and HIPAA work are regular practice — we have helped clients pass attestations and remediation cycles. SOC 2 is supported when the engagement requires it (typically clients with their own SOC 2 program needing us as a sub-processor or supporting vendor).
What MFA do you require for client environments?
We strongly recommend MFA on every administrative account, every cloud account (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, AWS, hosting), and every VPN or remote-access entry point. Duo MFA is our default deployment partner — see the Duo MFA service page for the full pattern.
Do you do penetration testing?
We do internal vulnerability scanning and external attack-surface review as part of security audits. Formal penetration testing requiring specialized credentials (CREST, OSCP) is performed through trusted partner firms — we coordinate scope and remediation but bring in specialists for the test itself.
How do you handle incident response?
Existing managed clients have an incident-response playbook in their contract with 24/7 emergency lines. For incidents at organizations we have not worked with before, we can take on emergency remediation engagements (compromise scoping, containment, post-incident hardening) — call (619) 535-6104 to discuss.
MOVING TO US
Migrations & Onboarding
Can you migrate me from another MSP?
Yes. MSP-to-MSP migrations are routine. We coordinate handoff with the outgoing provider, audit what we are receiving (and what is missing), set up our own tooling, and bring you fully under our SLAs. Typical timeline is 30–60 days depending on environment complexity.
How long does onboarding take for a new managed-IT client?
For a typical 10–50 user shop with cloud-first infrastructure, 2–4 weeks. Larger environments, on-prem servers, multi-site setups, or complex compliance posture (HIPAA, PCI) can push this to 6–8 weeks. The discovery call ends with a realistic estimate.
What information do you need to get started?
A snapshot of your environment — number of users, where email and files live, what hardware you have, what tools you currently use for IT and security, any compliance requirements, and a list of business-critical applications. The discovery call surfaces what is missing.
Will users experience downtime during migration?
For most migrations (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, MFA rollouts, endpoint protection), users see no downtime — work happens in parallel with the existing setup, then cuts over in a maintenance window. On-prem server migrations and major network changes are scheduled for off-hours.
WHEN WE ARE AVAILABLE
Support & Hours
What hours do you cover?
Standard hours are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9 AM to 6 PM Eastern. Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday are by appointment. Existing managed clients have a 1–2 hour response SLA during normal coverage.
What response SLA do managed clients get?
Existing managed clients have a 1–2 hour response SLA on issues raised during normal coverage. After-hours and weekend coverage is handled on an exception basis rather than a standing 24/7 commitment — the rationale is that real-world demand for after-hours service does not justify the standing-staff cost on a small-business scale.
How do I open a support ticket?
Existing managed clients have a dedicated helpdesk email and phone line, with optional Slack or Teams integration. New inquiries go through the Contact form or (619) 535-6104.
How quickly do you respond to issues?
New inquiries: within one business day. Existing managed clients: 1–2 hours during normal coverage per their contractual SLA.
Do you work weekends?
Saturday and Sunday are by appointment for non-emergency work. Genuine after-hours emergencies for managed clients are handled on an exception basis — call (619) 535-6104 and we will respond as quickly as practical.
WHERE WE WORK
Coverage Area
Do you do on-site work?
Yes — on-site work is concentrated in Hudson Valley NY (Orange, Ulster, Dutchess, and surrounding counties). Travel for on-site engagements beyond that radius is billable but can be arranged for major projects.
How far do you travel for on-site engagements?
Hudson Valley regional travel is included in standard pricing. NYC metro and the broader Northeast are workable for project work. Beyond that, we typically deliver remotely — most managed IT, cloud, and security work does not require physical presence.
Can you support multi-location businesses?
Yes. Cloud-first architecture, SonicWall Cloud Secure Edge, Duo MFA, and standardized endpoint management let us support multi-site organizations without needing local hands at every location.
How does remote-only support work?
Most modern environments are managed entirely remotely — patching, monitoring, security, cloud admin, user provisioning, and helpdesk all work over the network. On-site visits are reserved for hardware refreshes, network buildouts, and physical-layer troubleshooting.
WORDPRESS AND BEYOND
Hosting & Websites
Do you only host WordPress sites?
WordPress is the primary hosting focus, but we also host static sites, simple PHP applications, and small Node.js or Ruby applications when the scope makes sense. See the Hosting page for plan details.
What is your hosting infrastructure built on?
Cloudflare-fronted, SSD-backed hosting with daily backups via our managed infrastructure partners — SiteGround for shared and managed WordPress, plus AWS for custom workloads. Optional CDN, automated WordPress core and plugin updates, and uptime monitoring are included on managed plans.
Do you offer email hosting?
We do not run our own mail servers. Instead we deploy Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 as the email platform, with us as the implementation and ongoing-management partner. That gives clients enterprise-grade deliverability without us being the single point of failure for email.
Can I bring my own domain?
Yes. We can manage DNS for you (via Cloudflare or your registrar of choice) or hand you a list of records to put in yourself. Domains stay registered in your name — we never hold a client domain hostage.
Still have questions?
If your question is not above, the fastest path to an answer is the contact form or a phone call. We reply to most messages within one business day.