this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2026
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I actually think this is a much better solution than the current strategy of bulldozing -- literally and metaphorically -- everything and everyone to build giant, power hungry datacenters that are an enormous waste of money and resources.
Old telco facilities are prime locations for datacenters. They already exist, along with adequate on site power and communications infrastructure, and therefore dont require destroying thousands of acres of land or alienating all the local residents.
Telco switch buildings are already set up with the power AND the cooling. Old copper phone/DSL switch gear used to be power hungry as fuck.
Maybe. The building exists, yes, but a lot of those buildings were built in the 1940s or so. The HVAC is retrofit, and there might be power, but probably not as much as they'd want and probably not the right Internet connection.
A lot of them are in cities, too, since they needed to be near the people with telephones. That means they'll be generating a lot of noise right where people are living.
Not to mention, the telcos probably don't want to give them up. They do use some of them (the one nearest me is a training site) but the land and building are also fairly valuable. Utilities don't like to give up stuff like that.
The plus is not destroying more viable land. Whether or not the power and communications infrastructure can handle what even a small data center requires isn't a given. There will be a drain on resources, nothing is for free. And when they're backing in the jet engine power additions with full approval from the bought city officials...