2026-06-25 –, Prime Dome
These days it seems like any hacker worth their salt cares about AT&T's microwave long distance network. Microwave is neither the beginning nor the end of long distance telephony, though. In this talk, we'll discuss the other kinds of Long Lines - long distance telephone leads that used hundreds of miles of copper. Along the way, we'll learn about AT&T's extensive program to build a coast-to-coast coaxial cable hardened against nuclear attack, complete with an underground fallout shelter every 150 miles. You'll learn to recognize historic telephone infrastructure that you can find throughout the US.
Talk by J. B. Crawford, author of Computers Are Bad (https://computer.rip). I hope to leverage the increasing interest in telecommunications history to bring attention to the enduring impact that underground and pole-line long distance leads have had on our nation. We'll also look at specific details of the multiplexing and protection systems, from which we can learn some lessons about reliable communications infrastructure today.
J. B. Crawford is a technology writer and DevOps consultant from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Their interests include computer security, computer history, and the history of military communications. They are best known for Computers Are Bad (https://computer.rip) and for minimally provoked rambles. When not writing or speaking, they travel the southwest by road and explore the desert.