from experience, i can tell you high end support far exceeds $20/h (think 3rd level network and systems support). $20/h is more in the 1st line territory.

I presume that you are all talking about SV, right?

Nope. Midwest, medium CoL, $18-20/hr to sit and reset passwords all day.

Hell, I am just a sysadmin/developer with minimum experience (2yrs) and make ~$32/hr.

Keep in mind also that there's probably 2x to 5x overhead between what the customer pays and the paycheck of the person doing the actual work.

Ah, so in the USA. Thanks, got it.

Not just SV, but almost anywhere in the US at this point I would imagine. I was working support in the Phoenix area back in the mid-90s' and it paid roughly 2-3x minimum wage at that time. While the ratio wouldn't be the same, a lot of places now have a minimum wage in the $9-12 range. Given that, $20/hr+ wouldn't be improbable for first line email/phone support.

A couple of years ago I took a break from IT to work first-line support at a local (midwestern) software company. Hourly rate was just a little over that minimum wage range, nothing near $20hr though. I was glad to get it, glad for the experience, and glad to go back to IT when my time was up.

In all fairness, support costs also include all of the techs' phones, computers, networking, software licenses for Teamviewer et al, and office overhead. So a $20/hr bill is pretty cheap for a minimum wage technician.

Tier 3 support makes as much, if not more, than software engineers even outside of tech hubs.