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Wireless Broadband

200+ Wireless Broadband radio towers across the Waikato and Bay of Plenty spanning from the Bombay Hills to Te Kuiti to Whakatane beaming fast internet down to NZ rural properties.

99.99%

Average Tower Uptime

(last 30 days – all towers)

Closing the connectivity gap.

An avid computer enthusiast, Murray Pearson (PhD), wanted faster internet at his home in rural Waikato, but was frustrated to find that no options were available. He teamed up with the University of Waikato to find a way to close the connectivity gap between rural and city internet, Lightwire was born.

15 years later, Lightwire has gone from a research project to New Zealand’s largest independent wireless internet service provider, and our mission to close the connectivity gap has never faulted.

How Lightwire's fixed Wireless broadband works

A Lightwire technician installs a dish on the roof of your house that’s capable of receiving signals from a Lightwire high site that has clear line of sight (LoS) to a Lightwire tower on a nearby hill. These towers are also commonly referred to as a high site. The tower beams radio signals to your dish over which data is carried.

How Lightwire's fixed wireless broadband works

A Lightwire technician installs a dish on the roof of your house that’s capable of receiving signals from a Lightwire tower site on a nearby hill. With a clear Line of Sight (LoS) between the site and your dish, the tower beams radio signals over which data is carried.

Lightwire rural wireless is not

Cellular

We do not use 4G or 5G cellular networks to provide internet at your property.

Fibre

Providing fibre to rural communities is typically too costly and impractical.

Satellite

We don’t require low orbit satellites to get you fast internet.

64.9 Mbps

Average Download Speed

(last 30 days – measured at time of install)

Fixed Wireless Broadband

Because, Life is too short for slow internet.

Careful capacity management, the latest wireless & network technology, and the best engineers to operate the network ensures that living rural doesn’t hold back your internet speed.

DOWNLOAD Speed guaranteed.

This is for the practical people that care about results. We don’t talk a big game about speeds – we commit to guaranteed download speeds.

During off-peak periods we commit to providing 20Mbps download speeds, and during on-peak times we commit to 10Mbps download speeds.

Speed, reliability, and service are our ingredients for very happy customers.

Investing in here

At Lightwire we live and work across the Waikato and Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. We’re in this together.

That’s why we heavily invest in our network so we can all enjoy rural living at city internet speeds.

Because rural living in NZ shouldn’t be about compromises.

$15 Million

In network investments over the last 5 years

65 Sites Upgraded

In 2023

8500+ Customers

in 2024

Where you can get high-speed wireless broadband IN NEW ZEALAND

Availability depending on range and line of sight to a Lightwire tower as well as tower capacity.

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Lightwire is widely available across the Waikato and Bay of Plenty. Click the link below to check if we can provide fast and reliable wireless broadband to your rural property.

Not in coverage?

If you have a great community champion that can get 10 or more customers to commit to one of our wireless broadband plans, we will deploy a tower free of charge.

a network for more than just broadband

With over 200 high sites across the Waikato and Bay of Plenty, NZ, Lightwire is uniquely positioned to help other businesses unlock their connectivity potential.

Projects include Hamilton City Council’s smart traffic network, Trilogy’s digital mobile radio, and Waikato Regional Council’s IoT Initiatives.