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You are here: Home / Economics / Free Markets Solve Everything / Every City Has One

Every City Has One

by $8 blue check mistermix|  December 28, 202012:37 pm| 43 Comments

This post is in: Free Markets Solve Everything, Open Threads

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I’m sure Adam will have a much more complete post about the Nashville bombing as soon as facts are more clear.  In the meantime, I just want to note that the bomber sure picked an effective target.  His apparent intentional and careful targeting of what the Post is calling the AT&T “transmission building” led to a regional telecommunications blackout of pretty impressive proportions.  911, cell and Internet service were affected.  The Nashville airport closed for around four hours.

A few years ago I toured a similar facility in Rochester, and it’s an impressive building.  It is overbuilt — something like 4 stories tall, but built so heavily that it could have been ~15 (my memory isn’t 100% on that) — lots of brick and concrete.  It has redundant generators, steel roll down window shields in the lobby, and 24/7 security.  It has to be impressive, because, like the Nashville building, most of the Internet and telephone traffic for the region passed through it (at least at the time I toured it).

I’m not revealing any secrets when I say that every city has a similar building, they’re a pretty important failure point, and they’re generally downtown, facing busy city streets.  They probably should be better protected, but I guess we needed to spend our post-9/11 money on turning cops into stormtroopers and giving them armored vehicles instead of hardening these buildings.  Another factor must be the almost complete lack of regulation of telecoms once they branched out from land lines into cellular and Internet.

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43Comments

  1. 1.

    Immanentize

    December 28, 2020 at 12:42 pm

    OT, but funny:

    Severely Injured Woman Heroically Fights Off Paramedics Trying To Force Her Into Medical Debt https://t.co/9tOrfdN73g pic.twitter.com/jsY4wylWCG— The Onion (@TheOnion) December 28, 2020

  2. 2.

    NotMax

    December 28, 2020 at 12:47 pm

    So, infrastructure weak?

    :)

    Don’t go blaming the victim(s).

  3. 3.

    raven

    December 28, 2020 at 12:49 pm

    It’s infrastructure week!

    Flooding forces early voting site at Athens-Clarke Extension Office to close

    Athens-Clarke County announced Monday that the early voting site at the Extension Office on Cleveland Road has been closed due to flooding in the building.
    However, voters have four other options to cast an early vote in the Jan. 5 runoff election for Georgia’s two U.S. Senate seats.
    Sheetrock and flooring in about a third of the building were damaged after a pipe fitting came loose and flooded a portion of the building, according to Jackie Dallas, the department head for the Extension Service.
    Workers were on site to repair the damage, she said Monday.
    Other early voting sites include the Lyndon House Arts Center, the Athens-Clarke County Library, the Miriam Moore Community Center and the Athens-Clarke County Tennis Center.

  4. 4.

    Immanentize

    December 28, 2020 at 12:49 pm

    On topic, ATT has been a target for many reasons over the years.  One of the most consequential cases ended up being Abbate v. United States in SCOTUS.

    Two or three trade unionists, trying to unionize AT&T in the 50s, travelled from Chicago to Tennessee to blow up some transmission buildings.  They were caught and tried in Chicago to a (likely) pro-union jury and judge and we’re sentence to — six months.  The US (and the President’s Analyst) were not happy with this and tried them in federal court for the same criminal acts and they received multi-year sentences.

    This gave us the “dual sovereignty doctrine” which survives til this day that allows both State and Federal prosecutions for the same acts — think drug deals these days.

  5. 5.

    Immanentize

    December 28, 2020 at 12:51 pm

    @NotMax: The new suck building in Boston — we all got to watch it go up while they were finishing the big dig.  It was made plane crash proof, I believe.  More thicker concrete than the Maginot Line.

  6. 6.

    RobertDSC-Work

    December 28, 2020 at 12:52 pm

    There is one just down the street from my workplace.

     

    I laugh when I see the PacBell logo on one of the signs on a side fence. I know what that logo looks like, but a lot of people may not.

  7. 7.

    Brachiator

    December 28, 2020 at 12:54 pm

    @Immanentize:

    More thicker concrete than the Maginot Line.

    There is some heavy irony deployed here.

  8. 8.

    Leto

    December 28, 2020 at 12:59 pm

    I’m trying to think of who would actually pay to move all this infrastructure. You think the military budget is large? Can’t wait for people to actually see the cost involved with 1) buying land out in the middle of nowhere 2) building an entire facility to military grade security standards and 3) rerouting all the fiber/copper to these “secure” points. Of course we also have the security force needed to provide 24/7 protection: men, sensors, and other equipment.

    At my last base I was the lead project manager for the construction effort for our new communications facility. This involved 1) the building and 2) moving 2 of the 8 transatlantic fiber cables to our facility. This would be a similar project but multiplied, maybe, a 100 times over? More/less? This should be fun.

  9. 9.

    Stevie

    December 28, 2020 at 1:00 pm

    I used to work in one of these buildings. You just made me realize. When I was in college I worked in a call center for a mail order fruit basket company during the holidays. It’s in a big brick building downtown that belongs to Qwest now.

  10. 10.

    NotMax

    December 28, 2020 at 1:01 pm

    @Immanentize

    New (at the time) library at one of the alma maters was designed and built during and in the aftermath of the later 60s and an ongoing time of student unrest. Could stand in as a stolid medieval fortress in any film, recessed windows look like arrow slits.

  11. 11.

    Brachiator

    December 28, 2020 at 1:02 pm

    Another factor must be the almost complete lack of regulation of telecoms once they branched out from land lines into cellular and Internet.

    Regulation ain’t magic.

  12. 12.

    Leto

    December 28, 2020 at 1:07 pm

    @Brachiator: one of the biggest complaints against legislators is that they don’t understand the technology they’re trying to regulate. Which if you look at the past twenty years worth of internet regulation, is a fairly spot on critique. Either they don’t understand it, or the people they hire to help craft legislation for them don’t. And that’s not even getting to who we put in place to run the FCC.

  13. 13.

    zeecube

    December 28, 2020 at 1:11 pm

    There’s one in my town.  About 4 stories.   Encircled by 10 foot iron fence. No windows – just narrow slits on each side where you can stick a gun out to shoot at the riffraff trying to storm the building.

  14. 14.

    artem1s

    December 28, 2020 at 1:13 pm

    has it been determined that ATT was the target?  my understanding is this was a suicide and the place was randomly picked. maybe the lockdown was his beef and COVID; this was a high tourist area.  maybe the timer was programmed incorrectly and it was supposed to go off right as the bars/restaurants let off for the night.  the RV was parked there at 1:30 AM.  they don’t know if the driver was still alive when the bomb exploded.  sure it revealed a weakness in the infrastructure but it caused a temporary regional shut down of mobile calls and 911 – an actual emergency with thousands making mobile calls all at the same time can cause the same problem.

  15. 15.

    L85NJGT

    December 28, 2020 at 1:15 pm

     

    The reason these buildings sit in central business districts is…. ahhhh… demand for service. Running separate cables from every office in every building to an undisclosed location would be stupidly expensive.

    A 4-8 hour (partial) outage just isn’t worth the buildout costs.

  16. 16.

    japa21

    December 28, 2020 at 1:19 pm

    @artem1s: As I mentioned last night, the RW  considers this a direct shot at AT&T.

     

     

    AT&T got a contract to do forensic audit on Dominion voting machines and those machines were being moved to Nashville this past week.
    The former owner of the AT&T building in Nashville, William Kennard, is a board member for Cerberus Capital Management and AT&T…. He also was Bill Clinton’s FCC chair, and Obama’s Ambassador to the EU.
    Dominion voting is owned by Cerberus Capital Management…. Cerberus is run by Staple Street Execs. Joe Bidens Brother in Law, Steven Owens, is the cofounder of Staple Street Execs along with William Kennard (mentioned above).
    Super Computer in TN was connected to the AT&T internet in NASHVILLE…. yesterday evening the Cumberland river cooling system was compromised due to internet outage and Supercomputer fried…..
    If you don’t know, “Kraken” is a reference to a supercomputer former prosecuter, Sidney Powell, has been talking about.
    So, the explosion “just happened” to be at the AT&T location where they “just so happen” to control the cooling system for the super computer and house the dominion voting machines and drives for forensic audit…

    Sure it is just BS, but this is what they believe.

  17. 17.

    Brachiator

    December 28, 2020 at 1:20 pm

    @Leto:

    one of the biggest complaints against legislators is that they don’t understand the technology they’re trying to regulate.

    They regularly demonstrate this in public hearings.  And to be fair, or more damning, their staff often are just as bad, as you note.

    This problem might be compounded by the fact that a lot of tech leaders appear to be kinda “techno libertarians” who believe that you should just take a hands off approach to technology and innovation. This has led to tech people essentially withholding their expertise when it comes to some issues related to regulation, even when they privately agree that there are real problems that should be addressed.

    There is also an attitude among some of them that they are technology high priests, above the concerns of the “norms.”

    You often see the range of positive and negative attitudes expressed by guest on various tech shows, such as This Week in Tech on the TWIT network, hosted by Leo Laporte and other similar shows.

    As a side note, Congress is also thrown off by the fact that the tech industry does not give them as much in campaign contributions as other industries, proportionally speaking. And does not ask for favors to the same degree. As a counterpoint, stuffed into one of the recent relief bills are some favors for the film industry, I believe.

  18. 18.

    The Moar You Know

    December 28, 2020 at 1:21 pm

    I guess we needed to spend our post-9/11 money on turning cops into stormtroopers and giving them armored vehicles instead of hardening these buildings.

    Not one cent, even of other people’s money, will be plowed back into existing telecom infrastructure, not until every dime of their expenses is paid for by taxpayers and they are granted a complete liability shield.

    For a great example, look no further than California’s own SDG&E and PG&E.  Not one dime for improvements – and they’ve said this overtly – until all their expenses are paid by the public (including any improvements) and they’re immune from all lawsuits.  This is the model going forward for all utilities.

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    December 28, 2020 at 1:21 pm

    @Leto

    Truisms:

    1) The [furnace/refrigerator/washer/insert major appliance of choice} will crap out on weekends or holidays.

    2) Telecommunication legislation will lag a minimum of one generation behind technological advance.

  20. 20.

    L85NJGT

    December 28, 2020 at 1:23 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Local services are tariffed and uptime requirements are monitored but there wasn’t enough downtime to even get customers refunds.

    Functionally this was the equivalent of a jackass with a backhoe.

  21. 21.

    J R in WV

    December 28, 2020 at 1:40 pm

    The AT&T switch building in CRW — Charleston, WV, is at least 14 stories high, in a community of around 46,000 Also state capital, Kanawha county seat. V few windows of any sort, I counted stories/windows in an older bank building next door to estimate it’s height. Big generator set on the roof, CAT engine, lots of A/C equipment too.

    Kanawha county, a fairly large land area, has 178,000 population. I know of several smaller phone company switches in the metro area, brick buildings with no windows, 2 or 3 stories, but the downtown switch building dwarfs those facilities.

  22. 22.

    Leto

    December 28, 2020 at 1:43 pm

    @Brachiator: All good/valid points. I’m not sure what to do here; bring in outside experts to help craft specific legislation? Look to non-profits to help coordinate this? I’m just not sure.

    @The Moar You Know: pretty much this; it should be asked why they haven’t done infrastructure upgrades, but it’s the same as why rural communities don’t have high speed access: there’s no profit in it, so they won’t do it.

    @NotMax: might as well chisel it on stone and throw it up in every court house :)

    @L85NJGT:

    Functionally this was the equivalent of a jackass with a backhoe.

    So the first time I was stationed at Shaw AFB, I was part of base communications. We took care of airfield communications equipment. Included with that was all the radar equipment (separate career field from mine, the radar guys). That radar equipment was vital stuff as without it the fly boys couldn’t do their thing. And anything that stopped flying was considered beyond a mortal sin. So one day the civil engineering boys were out digging near the radar facility for some project. The spot they were digging, there was a tree nearby. As they were digging, they hit something. Seeing the tree nearby they assumed it was roots. “Keep going!” was the command. So they kept on. Unbeknownst to them, they just severed the main fiber bundle for the base radar. All the scope dopes (air traffic controllers) radar inside the facility went blank at the same time. There was a lot of traffic in the air at the time.

    Back outside, feeling good about themselves for having gotten through the “roots”, the CE boys kept going. They hit another obstacle. This time, this obstacle responded by shooting a 50ft geyser of water into the air. They had just hit one of the main water lines. Work immediately stopped. Eventually water was shut off, the hole was drained, and seeing how this was near the end of the day, the civilian contractors who maintained this stuff (fiber repair work) were called out. They made time and half on that job. I think the bill to repair that 200 pair bundle was in the mid-to-high 6 figures. This incident, along with two others specifically involving us radio guys, led to the CE commander being fired, along with several other civilians being fired. But that 50ft geyser of water is still one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.

  23. 23.

    ThresherK

    December 28, 2020 at 1:45 pm

    All you ever wanted to know about the AT&T microwave routes…from sixty years ago.

    No particular reason, just wanted to post that incredible old map. The method is, obviously, as susceptible to natural and man-made damage as the new stuff.

  24. 24.

    Doc Sardonic

    December 28, 2020 at 1:52 pm

    @Stevie: Acually it belongs to Century Link/Lumen. They bought Qwest a few years ago for pennies on the dollar after Qwest management augered it into the ground.

  25. 25.

    Leto

    December 28, 2020 at 1:54 pm

    @ThresherK:  Seeing a number of AFB on that site, knowing what they do, and why microwave comm was so important. This is def a neat bit of history!

  26. 26.

    Bill K

    December 28, 2020 at 1:55 pm

    In Neal Stephenson’s “Mother Earth, Mother Board” he points out that all the Internet traffic between Europe and Asia routs through a single building in Cairo.  Might not still be true, but it was then.

  27. 27.

    Citizen Alan

    December 28, 2020 at 1:56 pm

    @The Moar You Know: Then nationalize them. Which, you know, won’t happen. But it should be our battle cry.

  28. 28.

    JustRuss

    December 28, 2020 at 2:00 pm

    @Leto:  Yeah, Congress sure could use something like an Office of Technology Assessment.  Which they had, until Newt killed it.  In 1995, just as the internet was taking off.

  29. 29.

    Leto

    December 28, 2020 at 2:06 pm

    @JustRuss:  I def remember that. Part of the whole sale Republican plan of killing government.

    @Bill K:  Don’t think it’s like that anymore, but back in 2008 this did happen:

    Ship’s anchor caused cut in Internet cable

    A ship’s anchor lying at the bottom of the sea was behind one of two cuts last week in undersea Internet cables around the Middle East that caused dramatic outages across the region and in parts of Asia, the cable-owner company said Friday.

    I was deployed to Iraq at the time and this also affected US comms throughout the region.

  30. 30.

    John Revolta

    December 28, 2020 at 2:07 pm

    @Leto: Gee, every time I open my electric bill there’s a thing in there telling me to check with the local authorities about where your lines are before you try digging in your yard. You’d think your engineering type guys would try doing something like that!

  31. 31.

    trollhattan

    December 28, 2020 at 2:08 pm

    We have this ATT eyesore in the middle of downtown, across from the Convention Center.

    https://goo.gl/maps/SX8aBiHTrsLQjogZ8

    Back in the analogue days it housed eight stories of switchgear. Who knows what’s in there now?

    “Flash Boys” gave me a whole new perspective on communications gear strategy and tactics.

  32. 32.

    J R in WV

    December 28, 2020 at 2:08 pm

    @The Moar You Know:

    For a great example, look no further than California’s own SDG&E and PG&E. Not one dime for improvements – and they’ve said this overtly – until all their expenses are paid by the public (including any improvements) and they’re immune from all lawsuits. This is the model going forward for all utilities.

    CA state government needs to use eminent domain to seize their utilities and operate them for the benefit of the citizenry, if the privately owned corporations won’t do so properly.

    And starting fires isn’t properly operated utility service!

    If they avoid responsibility by declaring bankruptcy, the bid price for the purchase should be zero. I’m done with utilities acting like Emperor of the lands!

  33. 33.

    trollhattan

    December 28, 2020 at 2:19 pm

    @J R in WV:

    PG&E is in their second bankruptcy. #1 jerb is to keep the shareholders whole. #2 jerb is restore management bonuses.

    If the state were to take control (can it happen? dunno) the first thing we’ll probably get stuck with is the decommissioning costs for Diablo Canyon. Yay.

    Their biggest missteps seem to be pissing off various judges.

  34. 34.

    trollhattan

    December 28, 2020 at 2:24 pm

    @Leto:

    There’s an engineering joke I can’t properly remember but something about how very much work it is to put in fiber optics and how very easy it is for one guy on a backhoe to completely undo everything.

    They take USA clearances very seriously and those are sadly never 100% accurate. Every workplan I’ve been part of includes hand-excavating around all utility lines. Surely they always follow the workplan, right?

  35. 35.

    Leto

    December 28, 2020 at 2:27 pm

    @John Revolta: Part of the post accident investigation was: where’s your digging permit? Was it signed off by all the appropriate entities? When the CE guys turned out empty pockets, they found a few more systemic issues at play wrt training/following procedures. Again, more reasons why the CE commander was let go.

  36. 36.

    germy

    December 28, 2020 at 2:29 pm

    See you in Washington, DC, on January 6th. Don’t miss it. Information to follow!

    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 27, 2020

  37. 37.

    Leto

    December 28, 2020 at 2:33 pm

    @trollhattan: my former boss back in England was responsible for the communications portion of the Joint Base Pearl Harbor/Hickam merger. He spoke about the costs to install a single foot of fiber and the basic estimate was close to a $1M a foot. Even with better boring technology, it’s still just crazy expensive. I know there are national standards on how far down services are supposed to be. I think for comm it’s 18″ below ground. Water/sewage is like 36″? Even when installing in relatively “clean” areas, it’s still very expensive because of the amount of human labor involved. Such as hand excavating, as you mentioned. Think about that in populated areas with already existing infrastructure? Time is $$$, friend!

  38. 38.

    Brachiator

    December 28, 2020 at 2:33 pm

    @germy:

    See you in Washington, DC, on January 6th. Don’t miss it. Information to follow!

    If the GOP leadership had any brains or guts, they would just shut this idiot down.

    At some point, even he has to pivot from “I am still president” to “Send me more money so I can run in 2024.”

  39. 39.

    fancycwabs

    December 28, 2020 at 2:37 pm

    It’s hard to say. He could have been a  QAnon-level true believer in every conspiracy theory under the sun, and that could have motivated his actions, or he might (given his reported information security background) have thought he was striking a blow against PRISM and the surveillance state.

  40. 40.

    germy

    December 28, 2020 at 2:42 pm

    @Brachiator:  If the GOP leadership had any brains or guts

    …they wouldn’t be in the GOP

  41. 41.

    Brachiator

    December 28, 2020 at 2:44 pm

    @germy:
    If the GOP leadership had any brains or guts

    …they wouldn’t be in the GOP

    Ha! Too true.

    Unfortunately, they don’t seem to understand how they are playing with fire.  This disregard for democracy will come back and hurt them, too.

  42. 42.

    Geminid

    December 28, 2020 at 5:31 pm

    @Leto: I supervised groundwork for a general contractor, and one time the while digging a water line excavators hit a buried power cable. Two bangs, one in the ditch, one on a nearby transformer. Later the electric company admitted there was an excessively long splice laid to the side, so no fine. But that backhoe crew had their machine loaded up and out the driveway in record time.

  43. 43.

    L85NJGT

    December 28, 2020 at 6:26 pm

    @Geminid:

    LULZ – I had a fiber coring crew go through a 300 pair. They were gone in a cloud of dust. No way they were waiting around for Ma Bell.

    This is probably closer to the ATC guy who went at the punch down blocks with an axe (or was it a chainsaw?).  You just can’t kook proof everything.

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