said by halfband:Wasn't WiMax (not to be confused with Mobile WiMax) originally intended as a point to point or last mile solution. Looks like a good fit for very rural areas.
All Wimax services are based on the 802.16 standard, and can be used for any application. Mobile Wimax (802.16e) simply uses different radios, but its essentially the same as fixed Wimax. In the case described in this article, ATT is using the service as a last mile replacement coupled with IP access. It would be impossible (very expensive) to wire these rural areas for DSL, so Wimax works well in this situation. Given that its meant as a DSL replacement, a fixed Wimax application is more than adequate.