• Matt Blaze@federate.socialOP
    3·
    2 months ago

    With a few exceptions (a few towers atop downtown switching offices in populated areas), no one was trying to make any of this utilitarian communications infrastructure beautiful. It was form strictly following function, built to be reliable and rugged.

    But there was, I think, quite a bit of beauty to find in it. I wonder if we’ll look at our current neighborhood cellular towers, now often regarded as a visual blight, the same way decades after they’re (inevitably) also gone.

    • Bob Poortinga@mstdn.social
      1·
      2 months ago

      @[email protected] Aren’t microwave networks still used for High Frequency Trading? I know that these are not the same as the AT&T microwave network, rather they are relatively new facilities purpose built for HFT.

      • Matt Blaze@federate.socialOP
        1·
        2 months ago

        @[email protected] Yes, high frequency trading is in a unique space- they don’t care much about bandwidth (compared with a telecom network), but they care a lot about latency. Microwave has a faster velocity factor than fiber, so a lot of the trading firms have their own microwave links. Generally shorter distances (a few hops at most), though I believe there’s a network of relays between Jersey City and Chicago (mostly using old AT&T sites with newer equipment).

    • Farce Majeure@better.boston
      1·
      2 months ago

      @[email protected] any idea why they decided to do this strange design? Seems like a lot of overkill: it’s not in tornado alley, not in hurricane bowling land, and it doesn’t seem like reinforced concrete would be better for earthquakes than the traditional metal tower.

    • Nate Vack 🍴@ruby.social
      1·
      2 months ago

      @[email protected] It never ceases to amaze me how quickly we built and abandoned huge, wonder-of-the-world-scale infrastructure projects. We pulled twisted pairs of copper wire to the large majority of structures in the United States!

      And then almost entirely walked away from it

      look on my works, ye mighty, and despair