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Review by onlyyou 
Posted: 7.7 years ago
member for 7.8 years, 36 visits, last login: 7.6 years ago
 Seattle,King,WA
 $51 per month (month by month)
 about 13 days
 Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
 "The list would be longer than Bill G's wealth :)"
 "Haven't found one yet and even if I did it would still be better than MSN"
 "An excellent service with exceptional tech support to match for a great value"
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Hello all. First off, I'm a long time lurker and a first time poster so forgive me if this sounds funny in any way as I am not accustomed to doing online reviews, but felt that Blarg! Online Services (and even Qwest in my case) is worth any embarassment. Anyway, for all those interested in reading a roller coaster ride of a DSL story sit back and hang on....
***Top of the ride***
My first venture into DSL territory was through USWest/Qwest a couple years back. Being young and skeptical of this technology I reluctantly decided to give it a try. I was impressed instantly. I received a now old-school Intel Pro/DSL 2100 a couple days before my connection went live, which was like a week and a half, and it was all good. The blazing speeds I had achieved blew my mind away as it was set in 33.6k mode for the longest time. Customer service was exceptional and friendly and assisted in any growing pains a broadband rookie like myself encountered. Download and upload speeds were very close to what I ordered and it all felt too good to be true...like a utopian dream never wanting to end....
***The slow and gradual decent***
Over the next year and a half of DSL goodness, I was given startling and worrying news by a coworker (this has no relevence now but will near the end of the review) regarding Qwest and DSL. The rumor mill was in the air that Qwest and MS were starting to wheel and deal with one another. I had paid little attention to it as I had thought iwas only going to affect the newer DSL customers as opposed to the old school customers, like myself, whom had been with them for a year and a half. Little did I realize that the train was coming through and I was on the tracks....
***Speeding down the track***
I had come home from a hard days work sometime in December and was ready to enjoy a relaxing night and some casual online gaming...when I had got the mail. Low and behold, there was a Qwest envelope that required urgent reading. I then read the letter and saw that Qwest assimilated into MSN and that in order to keep my connection I had to migrate (I'll leave the story of not being told any other migration ISPs to another person at another time...). Feeling boxed up and against the wall I had followed the letter to the hilt and had migrated on December 21, 2001. What I kinda find funny and ironic is that when I had migrated on the 21st I was told that my Qwest connection would be live for 10 more days and then terminated...Upon celebrating New Years Eve and wanting to send an email to a friend I tried logging on a minute or two after the clock struck 12:00am and my connection was dead. So the New Year had started and my longtime Qwest DSL had come to an end.....
***Hitting rock bottom***
I had received the migration CD earlier and so put in all the settings and was now an MSN DSL customer (it was only later that I realized that I did not need that migration CD to log on and instead could use my own settings). At first, the connection was the same. Maybe I had to much spiked eggnog over the holidays but everything was going well. I had gone to DSL reports and would review the MSN online reviews and couldn't understand why everyone was having so many problems when everything had gone so smoothly for me....it didn't make sense. I called myself lucky and enjoyed the connection............then things started to go afoul. A week or two later my connection was becoming slower and slower...the once grand (well grand for me...this would be deemed laughable to cable users but thats okay...we all gotta laugh sometimes  speeds of 500+kbs and 250+kbs suddenly became 150+kbs/100+kbs during peak hours, or as I would say times when I could be on since having a job takes away a good portion of the day. Sure I could get upper numbers by logging in at 3:00am in the morning...but something about having a job and working for a living just didn't jive right about that..............Calls to their tech support regarding the matter was laughable at best so instead of sitting through it anymore I decided to cancel. The MSN tech support person that I talked to seemed like he was right out/still in high school. In fact, it seemed as if the entire staff was composed of teenagers as instead of hearing the usual hustle and bustle of working tech I had head guys and girls talking about what party they were going to that very night...no joke. Stunned but yet focused on cancelling I eventually got three or more words out of the tech and got the order through
+++Ride starts to swing upwards+++
I had been apprehensive in cancelling my connection since I had heard the horror stories associated with MSN and cancelling..as in holding the line from anywhere from a few days to thirty days! Then came the beakon of light...the knight in shining armor....Blarg Online services. After reading many, many favorable reviews about them I decided to give them a try and I am glad every second that I did. Calling their tech support yielded in an almost instant pickup...as in first ring...they kept catching me off guard lol. The tech support was friendly and knowledgeable and very willing to help and assist in any way possible. For a first impression, they certainly won me over. I set up an account at work and within 15 minutes was told that I had unlimited dialup access until the DSL order could be processed and when I got home, indeed they were right. Most cool as I thought I would be going without any access for the next couple of weeks. Now here is where the coolness of Qwest came in. Upon calling them and verifying my cancellation of the line I chatted with a great tech named Gino. As a tech, and I'm sure a person, he was most cool in every way possible. He did everything he could to make sure that my order went through and that the cancellation was processed. When MSN was messing up on the cancellation, he had stayed after his office hours to call and leave a message on my machine updating the status of my order at 6:00pm when he was off at 5:00pm. He was the friendliest and most effective tech support I had ever talked to so if you're out there Gino, toasts to you guy you deserve it!
***Top of the ride!***
Because my line was using the old school CAP I had to have it deprovisioned and reprovisioned to DMT and had to get a new modem, which I got the DMT version of the 2100, the 2200. For my casual needs I do not need anything more so for now its fine. I tried connecting tonight and to my joyous suprise everything works. I am getting the same if not better speeds than I was achieving with my old school USWest/Qwest account and everything, especially the logon time as a nice bonus, is blazing fast. So now I am getting the speed and low pings I was getting before (at least 10-15 games on RTCW showing below or at 40ms with the rest slowly and gradually climbing higher and Battle.Net (DII: LOD) pings excellent.
For now it seems as if the hurricane if over and things are going alright thanks to Blarg! Online services and their always helpful and friendly tech support and superior services. For all you out there in the Seattle area that are looking for an ISP, or if you were duped into the MSN/Qwest sinful pairing, then I totally recommend Blarg! Online Services. You won't be sorry.
Oh and for that final tidbit of info about where I heard about the Qwest/MSN merger at work and literrally made me feel sick to my stomach.....I work for a vendor at MS lol.
Anyways, thanks for reading this review and hopefully it will help all you in the 206 and 425 make the right choice and either a.) go with Blarg! or b.) stay away from the antichrist MSN. If you end up doing either of them than I've at least accomplished something.
onlyyou
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 Review by 4play
Posted: 7.8 years ago
member for 8.9 years, 1847 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Bothell,Snohomish,WA
$54 per month
about 10 days
Verizon (ex GTE)
CLEC party: Verizon (ex GTE)
"I never any latency that i can notice. Customer service was great. Quick install and very knowledgeable staff."
"I dont have any bad points at this point."
"Great speeds, good price,great customer service & 0 latency."
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I ordered the 768/768 package at the $54.00 a month, a little spendy since i am paying the CLEC (Verizon) another $70.00 a month. But it is well worth it. Install was a little bit of a pain in the butt, because Verizon was unable to setup my line because Cavad still had some service on the same line. Blarg ....had me up and running the same day, was just waiting for Verizon. They gave me the ATM modem. I also ordered the static IP, which was a 1 time setup fee of $25.00 by Blarg. But no monthly charges. Other than that everything has been great in the past few months.
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Review by costlow
Posted: 7.8 years ago
member for 7.8 years, 4 visits, last login: 7.5 years ago
Bellevue,King,WA
$20 per month
Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
"Good price, good support, static IP address for onetime fee"
"QWest. 'nuff said."
"Can't be beat."
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I installed DSL a couple years ago. I recently moved about 4 blocks, and QWest wanted to charge me a lot of money for re-hookup charges. I was disappointed because I would have had to change ISPs if I were to move to a cable modem.
Luckily QWest decided to waive the fees, and I stayed with DSL just because of Blarg.
I believe them when they say they don't sell my email address. I've had my account for nearly 2 years and I don't think I've ever received a spam I can't account for.
Can't really say more than that. Blarg is highly recommended if you want the flexibility of DSL.
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Review by dogghaus
Posted: 7.9 years ago
member for 8 years, 2 visits, last login: 7.9 years ago
Seattle,King,WA
$30 per month (month by month)
Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
"Too many to list"
"None"
"In the Seattle area? Go Blarg! and you'll be glad you did"
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I've had DSL for almost four years now, and I've dealt with many ISP's from personal, business, and friends usage. Most were dial-up, some DSL, some cable. Some were good, many were terrible (Qwest, @home, for instance, but did I need to mention that?). I used to be with an ISP I liked, but needed a few more features than they offered. I came across Blarg! (the exclamation point is necessary and deserved, make no mistake) from this website, and decided to give them a call. I am in the IT field, and consider myself fairly knowledgeable. The first impression I got from being on the phone with Blarg! customer service was: "Two rings and I get to talk to a person! Holy @#%!" The second impression I got was: this person is relaxed, couteous, and patient. The third impression I got was: this person knows his stuff. This took only a few minutes, and I thought: too good to be true. I signed up for their SOHO 256/640 account, with a nice block of static IP's. And I waited for the slow wheels of Qwest to grind away and change my DSL info, hoping for the best.
Well, about a week later, my DSL was running. Fast. And it hasn't been down since, six months later. But, then the perks kicked in! Which brings in the "too many to list" comment on good points. I don't want to mention any specifically, mainly because any other ISP would have charged me extra money for the few requests I've had of Blarg!, but they completed them at times while I was on the phone with them and waived the extra cost because I think THEY ENJOY WHAT THEY ARE DOING. Maybe customer service is easier when you're having fun?
Okay, one I will mention: I am a sys admin, and when the Code Red virus attacked, I was immediately looking for a fix for our remote users who use DSL with Cisco routers (including myself). I called Blarg!, had a nice chat, and got a nice fix. Qwest also provided their users with the same fix: A WEEK LATER!!! (Note: Qwest's original fix was not competely correct, but a week later they changed it).
Well, enough said. Choose your ISP well, but if you are in the Seattle area, give Blarg! a call, and you probably won't call anywhere else.
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Review by pnoid
Posted: 7.9 years ago
member for 7.9 years, 2 visits, last login: 7.8 years ago
Tacoma,Pierce,WA
$110 per month
about 14 days
Qwest
"Blarg is great."
"Qwest sucks."
"Blarg without Qwest would be excellent. Eh, Oh Well."
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BEWARE QWEST USERS!!
I have 640/256 with one ip addy now, but I used to have 640/256 with multible ips from Qwest on thier SOHO account. And that is where the nightmare happened Qwest decided it was in thier best interest to charge me $69 to set up my first account then when I changed my mind they charged me again $69 They charged me $25 to set up my phone line 1st and $25 2cd time $12 to setup and take down each way. Every charge got taxed. They then attempted to convince me my modem(cisco 678) did not have the right CBOS and the only option they offered was a new modem from them. Not a cisco and yes they wanted to charge me full price for the new one. I fought them on that and Won ! They waived my setup fee at first then the next month sent me a letter with my bill saying "We're very sorry we made a mistake... your set up fee will be $150.00+" as a penalty for changing my account per "Terms of Service Agreement 30day grace period" which I have yet to find anywhere clearly stated. They waived thier own waiver. On July 01 my bill was $277 including $45 for payments on my DSL modem which they did not charge me for two months prior and Tax. I won the battle for the modem, but lost the battle on the money. Their Ad said $31.95 for DSL and thats the truth what it does not say is you'll pay at least $20+for taxes, and set up fees at thier whim.My bill 01/02 $95.03 plus Blargs $20. Last but not least They sold my landline # to telemarketers and e-mail addy to spamers per "Terms of Service Agreement" Other than that Blarg Rocks!
---In Profit We Trust---
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Review by pinman$
Posted: 7.9 years ago
member for 7.9 years, 21 visits, last login: 7.7 years ago
Seattle,King,WA
$51 per month
Qwest
"Unmetered Transfer! FTP Server OK! Awesome Service! No Hold Time!"
"um... none?"
"Blarg Rocks!"
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Yeehaw!
I'm finally home
I am an @Home refugee- damn, I miss that old 4MB/s bandwidth! Since it's been capped at 1.5 MB/s and seems to be down as often as up, I thought I'd switch back to DSL even though it's rippin' expensive for comparable speeds.
I did my research over a long period of time and settle on Blarg as an indie ISP using my Qwest telco. Each time I called Blarg with questions I got straight through to a nice and knowledgeable human with NO HOLD TIME! Mark, who I think owns the business, spent as much time as needed with me- each time patiently answering all of my questions and not pressuring me into a sale at all.
After finally drawing the line with being screwed around with by national conglomerate nightmares I decided the extra dough would be worth it to get great service from a local company that EARNED my business and loyalty. Mark helped me assess my speed needs, encouraging me to start slower and then bump up if I need to because Qwest charges you to change down but not up- great tip Mark!
My account was created while I was on the phone, and as soon as I configured my email program my new Blarg email address was working flawlessly! This was literally only a matter of minutes! Mark also provided me with a local dial-up number that I can use anytime as back-up if needed at no charge- not that I'll ever need it based upon their amazing record of perpetual uptime...
The time from order to activation is tagged at 2 weeks- but Mark said that as soon as I receive the modem from Qwest I should be able to fire it up and let 'er rip! It was nice to let Mark set up the Qwest end of things for me- and not have to be on hold with Qwest forever getting it set up. THANK YOU MARK!
I decided to go with the 640/256 level of service ($51.95), and see how it feels- I know I've been spoiled by the old 4MB/s cable but those days are gone... It will be really nice to have higher upstream as I do run a private music ftp server for a few friends to leech off of me now & then and the @Home was capped at 128. I'm really eyeballing the 1MB/1MB but not sure if I can afford to shell out the $143 a month (rates are supposed to change next month I hear).
One really nice thing about Blarg is they don't meter the throughput- so I can download crispy SHN files of old Dead shows as fast as I can burn 'em- plus, they don't mind if I run my ftp server for non-commercial purposes either- I made sure I specifically asked that question. Sounds pretty good eh?
I will post again in a couple weeks and let you know the reality of things. in the meantime- if you are in Washington state you owe it to yourself to check Blarg out!
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Review by PitFall8
Posted: 7.9 years ago
member for 8 years, 7 visits, last login: 7.9 years ago
Bellevue,King,WA
$20 per month (month by month)
Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
"Breath of Fresh Air -- Blarg delivers!"
"Nada!"
"Small == Responsive"
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After suffering thru the agonies of a Qwest-to-MSN migraine, I mean, migration, Blarg proved that one can find satisfaction in ISP land including first-rate tech support and multiple POP3 email accounts! I'm using the DSL Standard 640/256 service on a Qwest Deluxe.
Although I have only been using Blarg for about 3 weeks, service has been flawless to date. Nifty features like easy web access to email when away from one's POP3 environment. Choice of static (just a setup fee) or dynamic IP address.
I won't even complain about their somewhat limited tech support hours 'cause I really haven't needed them! Frankly, that's a PLUS in my book!
If, like me, you don't want to have to view the world thru the invasive advertising fog of AOL or MSN, this may be the ISP for you.
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Review by davidmattern
Posted: 7.9 years ago
member for 7.9 years, 5 visits, last login: 5.1 years ago
Seattle,King,WA
$20 per month
about 1 days
Qwest
"Friendly, prompt assistance, equals the best prices around."
"Can't think of any."
"Good, friendly, reliable ISP."
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I selected Blarg after Woflenet -> RMI -> ICCN decided they didn't want residential service. So far (which hasn't been all that long) I've been very satisfied.
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 Review by vulcan125
Posted: 7.9 years ago
member for 8 years, 1257 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Bellevue,King,WA
$51 per month
about 14 days
Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
"Fast setup, only $25 setup for static ip (no extra monthly fee), Inexpensive for unmetered transfer"
"tech support hours, having qwest as my telco ($31/month line fee for 640/256)"
"Blarg is great. Good deal, strongly reccomended for unmetered transfer."
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I originaly ordered 'MSN Highspeed Deluxe powered by qwest', waited 3 weeks until install date, called and said that the circuit was full and that i could not get service for another month. I cancelled the order the next day, but it took msn 2 weeks to release my line. After the order was finally cancelled, i called blarg and placed my order. The first thing they ask you is if you have any questions, this is really nice, because they actually know what they're talking about. It took 2 weeks from order to install for my cisco 678 router to arrive from qwest, while i was waiting, they provided me with free dial up until my dsl was turned on. Connection speeds have been pretty good, 541/221. Tech support, although only needed once so far is great, although they're only open monday-friday 9-7. Overall good experience, would reccomend to anyone in the seattle area in search of a good isp with unlimited throughput.
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Review by Unforgiven4
Posted: 8.1 years ago
member for 8.7 years, 50 visits, last login: 5.2 years ago
Seattle,King,WA
$52 per month (month by month)
about 7 days
Qwest
CLEC party: Qwest
"Very informative personell. This service has the best uptime of any ISP I've had!"
"Haven't had any issues yet, but Tech Support only open 9-5 could be an issue later..."
"If anyone in Seattle migrated to MSN from Qwest.net I strongly suggest this service instead!"
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In Sept. I migrated from Qwest.net service to MSN Broadband as part of ther migration offer/demand because the prices were gonna remain stable and yadda yadda yadda. Anyhow the MSN service was horrid so I surfed Qwest's DSL ISP page and found that Blarg! was one of the few decently priced ISP's that would allow you unlimited transfers and uptime. I left a message on their voicemail system on a Saturday and the first thing Monday morning they called me at work to follow up on some questions I had. Anyhow I ended up signing on with them and it only took them 3 days after my MSN service was disconnected to have me up and running. MSN went down on a Friday and by the next Monday I was up. Blarg so far has been outstanding! My uptime has never been an issue and their tech support has been fantastic for the 2 times I have needed it. Kudos to Blarg on a fantastic service! You guys have restored my faith in broadband internet service.
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