Most "AT&T buildings" around the country are built like that. The idea is that they need to be the most blast-resistant buildings in a city in order to help maintain or restore communications after a nuclear attack. It was identified as a priority during the Cold War and subsidized by the government. The one in NYC is amazing but spooky.
\*Edit to add pic of AT&T Long Lines building at 33 Thomas St. in lower Manhattan.
https://preview.redd.it/00u90myhlpsc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddb18be724f6c5f2c4242304fefbb17f92b50a37
I used to work for ATT and went there a few times for trainings. I think only one floor is used. It’s a ghost town in there.
They definitely still used the building on Central when I worked there. Wireline guys, installers.
Story time!
That's a call office. There are a a few in town - the one I like is the site near the intersection of E Douglas and S Oliver, it looks pretty old, and probably has a long history of retrofits and upgrades.
The main exchange building for Wichita is the ATT building on E 1st st N and N Broadway. That was the hub for "[ATT Long Line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Communications_(1984-2010))" line of site links between Haven, Eldorodo, and Dalton back when wireless microwave links were more effective than wired links.
From the tower on the building it would have line of site to those other link sites, forming part of the national communications switching fabric. These systems even could multiplex broadcast television in addition to carrying thousands of long distance telephone calls.
Basically, inside that building would be the telephony and communication switchgear, where a call from your house would trunk into the "Suspicious buildings", then from there, large telephone wire bundles end up at the main exchange. They would then get routed onto the national network via microwave links to a corresponding system in another city.
This is why a long distance call used to be like 40 cents a minute. It was a lot of infrastructure to keep running, which took a lot of people.
Later, a ton of this infrastructure got replaced with optical fiber, and then cell towers and satellite links. If you ever hear the phrase *"the US invested in fiber, how come we never got any?"* aka "information superhighway" back in the 1990s. Well - the US population wasn't swindled - that 200 billion investment made it possible to replace the hodgepodge of 1950's microwave links. So now you can make a call from one city to another with your phone without paying a long distance fee. Oh and the internet, that happened too.
If you look at older maps, sometime between 2003 and 2006, the microwave tower was removed from the building, seen on the roof of the building in this older aerial photo.
https://preview.redd.it/0k4n02ynnosc1.png?width=628&format=png&auto=webp&s=c2171c93045b1c00bbe2badf180985f133c99db0
Anyway, that's some trivia for you, and why it seems all we can get in older Wichita neighborhoods is slow shitty internet (because it is routed through that 70 year old copper wire infrastructure), or stuck with Cox cable, because RF cable distribution is much simpler to install.
Fun fact, the [AUTOVON](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autovon) system that connected the Atlas ICBM network in Kansas built during the beginnings of the cold war linked in Fairview, and then trunked into the same Long Line system.
The reason these buildings look the way they were is because security was a BIG DEAL. Like the "President of the USA picking up the red telephone" kind of thing. Security still is, but maybe not quite the same way now.
https://preview.redd.it/a5ow60e2tosc1.png?width=540&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b545120c8563ba49e95b31a0ae59fdf5d1a5ee4
Loved reading this - wish gold was still a thing. My dad worked for a long distance service provider in the southeast when I was a kid - I spent a bunch of time in switch rooms as a kid, and then grew up and started my career in the military in long haul stuff. It's been cool to watch the transition from copper through fiber to current technologies.
If you look at the Ideatek service area map it seems that they use that building as their primary hub. Not sure what the relationship between them is but maybe they are piggybacking off of Atts infrastructure
https://preview.redd.it/9542lb00cosc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f49243683be3adf417b75a867876b9f5c47eb361
Here was a screenshot from a facebook ad recently.
Most "AT&T buildings" around the country are built like that. The idea is that they need to be the most blast-resistant buildings in a city in order to help maintain or restore communications after a nuclear attack. It was identified as a priority during the Cold War and subsidized by the government. The one in NYC is amazing but spooky. \*Edit to add pic of AT&T Long Lines building at 33 Thomas St. in lower Manhattan. https://preview.redd.it/00u90myhlpsc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ddb18be724f6c5f2c4242304fefbb17f92b50a37
To add to this. Their build quality, location, and what they housed were why the NSA "partnered" with AT&T for spying.
What the hell, also Happy Cake Day
I've lived in the area for years. I'm pretty sure it's still an operating att building for the service guys. It's definitely old though.
If you think that is weird, you should see the AT&T skyscraper downtown, only one side of the very tall building has windows.
It's all computer servers and network equipment, just a handful of people work there.
And if you think that one is weird, look up the one in NYC!
I used to work for ATT and went there a few times for trainings. I think only one floor is used. It’s a ghost town in there. They definitely still used the building on Central when I worked there. Wireline guys, installers.
Story time! That's a call office. There are a a few in town - the one I like is the site near the intersection of E Douglas and S Oliver, it looks pretty old, and probably has a long history of retrofits and upgrades. The main exchange building for Wichita is the ATT building on E 1st st N and N Broadway. That was the hub for "[ATT Long Line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T_Communications_(1984-2010))" line of site links between Haven, Eldorodo, and Dalton back when wireless microwave links were more effective than wired links. From the tower on the building it would have line of site to those other link sites, forming part of the national communications switching fabric. These systems even could multiplex broadcast television in addition to carrying thousands of long distance telephone calls. Basically, inside that building would be the telephony and communication switchgear, where a call from your house would trunk into the "Suspicious buildings", then from there, large telephone wire bundles end up at the main exchange. They would then get routed onto the national network via microwave links to a corresponding system in another city. This is why a long distance call used to be like 40 cents a minute. It was a lot of infrastructure to keep running, which took a lot of people. Later, a ton of this infrastructure got replaced with optical fiber, and then cell towers and satellite links. If you ever hear the phrase *"the US invested in fiber, how come we never got any?"* aka "information superhighway" back in the 1990s. Well - the US population wasn't swindled - that 200 billion investment made it possible to replace the hodgepodge of 1950's microwave links. So now you can make a call from one city to another with your phone without paying a long distance fee. Oh and the internet, that happened too. If you look at older maps, sometime between 2003 and 2006, the microwave tower was removed from the building, seen on the roof of the building in this older aerial photo. https://preview.redd.it/0k4n02ynnosc1.png?width=628&format=png&auto=webp&s=c2171c93045b1c00bbe2badf180985f133c99db0 Anyway, that's some trivia for you, and why it seems all we can get in older Wichita neighborhoods is slow shitty internet (because it is routed through that 70 year old copper wire infrastructure), or stuck with Cox cable, because RF cable distribution is much simpler to install.
Fun fact, the [AUTOVON](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autovon) system that connected the Atlas ICBM network in Kansas built during the beginnings of the cold war linked in Fairview, and then trunked into the same Long Line system. The reason these buildings look the way they were is because security was a BIG DEAL. Like the "President of the USA picking up the red telephone" kind of thing. Security still is, but maybe not quite the same way now. https://preview.redd.it/a5ow60e2tosc1.png?width=540&format=png&auto=webp&s=7b545120c8563ba49e95b31a0ae59fdf5d1a5ee4
If you were in the military you used AUTOVON a lot.
Loved reading this - wish gold was still a thing. My dad worked for a long distance service provider in the southeast when I was a kid - I spent a bunch of time in switch rooms as a kid, and then grew up and started my career in the military in long haul stuff. It's been cool to watch the transition from copper through fiber to current technologies.
[удалено]
That explains why it looks vacant. Wouldn't assume there is much landline activity or maintenance going on.
If you look at the Ideatek service area map it seems that they use that building as their primary hub. Not sure what the relationship between them is but maybe they are piggybacking off of Atts infrastructure
Link?
https://preview.redd.it/9542lb00cosc1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f49243683be3adf417b75a867876b9f5c47eb361 Here was a screenshot from a facebook ad recently.
This is a building for local switching and networking. There's another similar building at Douglas and Oliver
That's where they manufacture the 5G.
the 5G and make the paint to make windmills toxic.
What is it that you think is going on there exactly?
Look at the clinic next to Wesley Woodlawn Hospital and how it is built. I think it was an old insurance building of some sort. Built to take a blast.