Gotcha. That's true at the moment with some exceptions. There are regional businesses that are on the same wireless network, they somewhat subsidize the network. There are also peering agreements between some neighboring wireless networks.
My understanding of WiMax was that some vendors offered it 2.4 GHz for testing with plans to move to a higher licensed frequency for rollout. Like WiFi, WiMax does not solve the cable problem you are talking about until there is better wide area mesh routing that everyone can install. Ultimately, being on the side of a mountain, I will be both a relay point and access point for a number of other nodes. I will gladly volunteer my time and power (switching to solar) to do this. The routing code will be open source and the network will be open and free for everyone subject to BW limits that the routers will take care of.
Hey! Good luck to you!
You are on the frontlines of the wireless revolution.
No question in my mind that the world is trending towards a total wireless setup.
Please freepmail me from time to time and keep me posted. Thanks!