I had internet service from Lightwave Wireless set up at my home in Ramona yesterday. I've been…read moreliving in Ramona since April 2024, and I have been stuck with Cox cable internet. Cox is SOOOO GROSSLY OVERPRICED. They were/are charging me $155 a month for 500mbps down, 50mbps upload service on an introductory promotional rate. That price includes whatever hideous fee Cox charges for unlimited monthly data. After the first 1-2 years, that rate would be even higher because the promotional period would be over and Cox would also start charging me to rent their cable modem monthly. The problem is, I would usually never see that 500mbps speed on speed tests. Many times it would be around 400mbps. I never saw that 50mbps upload speed, it was usually more like 29-30mbps. I also really hated dealing with Cox customer service. They are just the worst people on earth, almost malevolent. They know you're stuck with them, and they will screw you over at every single possible opportunity. Example, when I first bought this house back in April 2024, Cox sent me a home installation kit with my order. I tried every cable outlet in the house and none of them worked. I asked Cox to send a technician out since the previous owner's Cox internet service worked just fine but my new modem wasn't connecting. Cox tricked me into paying a monthly fee for "Cox Complete Care", to get a technician out to my house, then a few months later when I discovered the fee and cancelled it, they charged me over $150 cancellation fee even though I never knew I even signed up. On that day I decided that as soon as another viable ISP alternative popped up in my part of Ramona, I would ditch Cox immediately.
Fast forward 6 months, and I get this flyer in the mail from Lightwave Wireless. At first I thought it was some type of cellular 5g home internet stuff, which is mostly garbage and not reliable. I did some research and it turned out it's not cellular at all, it's based on microwave technology and it requires a good line of sight to their tower on top of Mount Woodson to get this service. The service can work with perfect line of sight or near line of sight, but if there's a hill or mountain blocking your line of sight entirely, this service won't work for you. I know that cellular service is not a fit for me, but microwave service definitely has potential. This type of service has one weakness, which is line of sight, but it has some great strengths. Due to having no cable lines or power lines between your house and their tower, it means the service is effectively weatherproof. There is the potential for service up to 1000mbps with up to 200mbps upload, and the best part is even their highest tier of service cost a LOT less than what I was paying for mid tier Cox service, and all of their plans offer unlimited data built in. The flyer was very compelling, it promised unlimited data, no contracts, 30 day free trial, no overage fees, free static IP, and 10-20ms ping times.. all for 25-50% less than I was paying for Cox. I might have paid them extra money just to get Cox out of my life, but hey half price works for me!
I decided to give them a call. This was on a Saturday and to my surprise an actual human being answered the phone. That human being is named Sue, and she is awesome. Maybe she was just bored that day because it was her day off, but she answered the phone anyway, and answered every single one of my questions, gave me realistic expectations of what to expect in my specific location, confirmed the 30 day free trial and etc. If I could give Sue a separate 5 star review I would! There is a $100 install fee for this service, but they do not charge you any monthly fees for their equipment. You also don't have to pay the install fee until your first bill comes in at the 30 day mark. They even offered $20 a month off for the first year. I decided to give them a shot. They came out on 12/17/24 to do a site survey and installation. There are some trees partially obscuring my direct line of sight so they couldn't mount their microwave antenna as high up as they wanted to ( the pics below are not the final mounting location, the installer ended up finding a lower position with slightly better line of sight than in the photos below). The installers were professional, friendly, on time, efficient, and they did a really nice, clean looking install for me. I love that their dish is also their modem, and it is powered via power over ethernet, the only equipment inside your house is a small PoE adapter, it's the size of a typical AC power adapter. I am getting a consistent 330-350mbps download, 40-50mbps upload with 15-20ms ping times. Everything I was doing before with the Cox 500/50 service works just as well with this 350/50 Lightwave service, I can't tell the difference in performance. If I trim some tree branches they can mount the dish higher and give me even faster speeds. This service is great. Literally half the price of Cox!
