AT&T to trial WiMAX in Atlanta
AT&T is going to kick off a WiMAX technology, applications and its business case during a trial in Atlanta this fall. This will be the second major trial of the technology for the company. AT&T has been testing the technology with several commercial customers in Middletown, N.J., reports The Wireless Week. The Atlanta trial, expected to last until the first quarter of 2006, will use equipment WiMAX standard gear, and Ma Bell is trying to figure out the details of a large scale deployment.
I hope WiMAX takes off and become an alternative to extremely overpriced data access via cell-phones. I see great hope for rural broadband via WiMAX.
However, if the providers will pursue the same pricing model as cell phone data and if the consumer equipment costs cannot be redunced to the level of decent Wi-Fi gear WiMax will be another novelty.
FCC should support WiMAX instead of BPL (Broadband via Power Lines)