ATT services down due to bombing in Nashville

This article doesn&#x27;t make this so explicit, but ATT infrastructure appears to be the intentional target of the bombing. You can see the building in the helicopter shot at the top of the NYTimes article on the story: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2020&#x2F;12&#x2F;25&#x2F;us&#x2F;nashville-explosion.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2020&#x2F;12&#x2F;25&#x2F;us&#x2F;nashville-explosion.ht...</a><p>Obviously a telecommunications&#x2F;switch hub, with it being a large windowless building in a downtown core.<p>The other thing that&#x27;s particularly odd is the fact that the attackers appear to have broadcasted some sort of warning or evacuation message from the site of the bombing prior to the explosion.

Reportedly, there was a visible countdown timer on the vehicle that exploded, and an audible warning played for 15-20 minutes prior to the blast:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=5nygTJeu9fU" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=5nygTJeu9fU</a>

Here is an update from AT&amp;T:<p>The front 1&#x2F;3rd of the building is structuraly damaged. That includes fiber entry.<p>They have no power and there is major flooding on all floors including the basement.<p>The Fire Department is en route with pump trucks to help with the flooding.<p>They have Building Engineers and Electricians on the way to look into the structure and getting power turned on.<p>They have 2 850KW generators on the way and 2 1MW generators on standby.<p>They have new A&#x2F;C Chillers on the way (Existing Chiller plant was destroyed).

Nanog thread: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mailman.nanog.org&#x2F;pipermail&#x2F;nanog&#x2F;2020-December&#x2F;210910.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;mailman.nanog.org&#x2F;pipermail&#x2F;nanog&#x2F;2020-December&#x2F;2109...</a><p>Indicates closest ATT building was an ILEC CO, oddly, a voice exchange &#x2F; telco meet-me point, or what we would call a peering point on the internet.<p>Risk&#x2F;reward on the bombing, we&#x27;re clearly missing incentives information, as of the options available and conceivable purposes for going to that much effort, it doesn&#x27;t add up yet. Everything about it so far is so dumb the only thing I could see it being is a test run for a real one.

Reports that most of Tennessee is without 9-1-1 service right now:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dslreports.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;r32982150-AT-T-Suffers-outages-in-Nashvillle" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dslreports.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;r32982150-AT-T-Suffers-outa...</a><p>And AT&amp;T mobile is down across Kentucky: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dslreports.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;r32981927-Services-Suspicious-blast-wounds-3-in-Nashville" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.dslreports.com&#x2F;forum&#x2F;r32981927-Services-Suspicio...</a><p>Also reports above that calls into Tennessee aren&#x27;t working.

Considering the FBI recently foiled a plot by a group who was planning to &quot;take out&quot; parts of the energy grid, it seems likely from my experience that this is another set of people executing a similar plan targeting telecoms. I imagine there is a high probability of more incidents like this happening between now and the inauguration, meant to target various infrastructure and &quot;big government&quot; components throughout the country. This attack screams anti-government militia with it&#x27;s technique, and we will see in the following days online chats emerging with all the planning details that will likely include someone that had some degree of &quot;insider information&quot; about the ATT facility.

It’s as though someone watched an action movie and thought, what if we get rid of the need to cut the comms in the building itself, and if we chose a time and day when nobody would show up:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;m.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=xLcHPsWK5xg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;m.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=xLcHPsWK5xg</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;m.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=jrA-1cG_wq4" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;m.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=jrA-1cG_wq4</a><p>This is a scenario that is in like pretty much every action heist movie ever. Except the movies have super-dramatic bad guys who blow their own cover to take credit for irrational reasons.<p>Based on what we are seeing about comms and 911, the “true crime” might have happened far from the scene of this blast.

The building (185 2nd Ave N) the RV exploded in front of appears to host a lot of equipment: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.telcodata.us&#x2F;search-switches-by-zip-code?zip=37201" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.telcodata.us&#x2F;search-switches-by-zip-code?zip=372...</a>

Watching the impact on the network through downdetector today has been interesting. If I wanted to be conspiratorial I&#x27;m reminded of Room 641A.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Room_641A" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Room_641A</a>

Telco worker here. These sort of exchanges in big cities are usually built from solid concrete to minimise damage from these sort of attacks - either from warfare or terrorism. At least, for buildings built during the world wars or cold war.<p>Here&#x27;s an exchange in Melbourne: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;1.bp.blogspot.com&#x2F;-gHeHncO6W4U&#x2F;ThpRVvEhXHI&#x2F;AAAAAAAAJn4&#x2F;3OvieNPtPbQ&#x2F;s1600&#x2F;telstra-brutalist-telephone-exchange-sydney-city.JPG" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;1.bp.blogspot.com&#x2F;-gHeHncO6W4U&#x2F;ThpRVvEhXHI&#x2F;AAAAAAAAJ...</a><p>Built with solid concrete and with thin windows.

Timing on Christmas and the lengthy list of security systems that rely upon ATT.. makes me wonder. Some variety of a Heist? Seems it wouldn’t be market related given mkts already closed. This is far fetched, yeah. Maybe it was just someone who hates 5G.

additional angle to consider under tinfoil:<p>building ran telecommunications and the telecom outage affected the nashville airport, altering some flights<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;Fly_Nashville&#x2F;status&#x2F;1342566428386488324?s=20" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;Fly_Nashville&#x2F;status&#x2F;1342566428386488324...</a><p>not to make a mountain out of a molehill, but thought experiments are good exercise.

This feels very similar to the Metcalf attack. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Metcalf_sniper_attack" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Metcalf_sniper_attack</a><p>If I were to speculate, this feels like it could be a test of response before further action. If they wanted to kill <i>people</i> at AT&amp;T, the HQ is only a few blocks away. This seems very... crafted for an attack.

That&#x27;s some Mr Robot type of stuff.

Whoever did it seems to have been inside the RV at the time? Or a body was -- they say they found human remains.<p>I don&#x27;t think this person wanted to kill anyone. 15 minute warning, low population, date &amp; time. Was it someone who really didn&#x27;t like AT&amp;T?

News about the bombing for those who hadn’t heard yet <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.usatoday.com&#x2F;story&#x2F;news&#x2F;nation&#x2F;2020&#x2F;12&#x2F;25&#x2F;downtown-nashville-explosion-christmas-morning&#x2F;4044708001&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.usatoday.com&#x2F;story&#x2F;news&#x2F;nation&#x2F;2020&#x2F;12&#x2F;25&#x2F;downto...</a>

They Bombed a major network switching and server hub for att<p>AT&amp;T snags FBI business from Verizon with $92M FirstNet contract just days ago<p>FirstNet system is a unified communication platform to connect all levels of government and collect information during times of crisis.<p>Was created in 2012 after the Boston bombing.<p>Government agencies all are going to be linked through this system top to bottom.<p>This is basically a much faster private parallel internet that the public wont have access to.<p>very dangerous.<p>Who ever did this may be pointing this out<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.fiercewireless.com&#x2F;operators&#x2F;at-t-snags-fbi-business-from-verizon-92m-firstnet-contract" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.fiercewireless.com&#x2F;operators&#x2F;at-t-snags-fbi-busi...</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;First_Responder_Network_Authority" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;First_Responder_Network_Author...</a>

Curious as to the relationship between ATT and Apple&#x27;s iCloud outages, if any. (I remember ATT was the original carrier for iPhone.)<p>Fair disclosure: this -is- a paranoid musing. Does my iCloud login ping &quot;Room 641A&quot; in ATT per some understanding between the national security state and apple computer?

<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;techcrunch.com&#x2F;2018&#x2F;06&#x2F;25&#x2F;nsa-att-intercept-surveillance&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;techcrunch.com&#x2F;2018&#x2F;06&#x2F;25&#x2F;nsa-att-intercept-surveill...</a><p>The vehicle was parked outside an AT&amp;T Inc office, and the blast caused widespread telephone, internet and TV service outages in central Tennessee and parts of several neighboring states, including Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reuters.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;tennessee-blast-idUSKBN2900CX" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reuters.com&#x2F;article&#x2F;tennessee-blast-idUSKBN2900C...</a>

Too much speculation.<p>Interesting that the outage started hours after the explosion. The obvious speculation is that the CO lost power after the batteries ran down, but that&#x27;s not definite yet.<p>Are they back up? If it&#x27;s just power loss, they should be by now.

This is truly strange. I&#x27;m thankful that nobody was killed. But what on earth is going on?

Many facilities have generators that are tied to the fire system and will not provide electricity when there is an alarm. A diesel generator tank is designed around (sized based on) the amount of time the facility is expecting to have fuel delivered. A more central location will have small tanks, remote locations will have larger. Gas powered generators are a great option because they do not run out of fuel, although they are dependent on the gas grid. Facilities running gas generators require an automatic safety shutoff valve (electronically actuated) to be tied to the fire system to prevent explosion.

Doing this on a public holiday seems to target a business&#x2F;infrastructure, as opposed to people. Where was the truck parked, is it obvious that the target was AT&amp;T?

Okay, this is the first I&#x27;m hearing about a bombing attack in Nashville, and the article kinda starts in media res - was anybody hurt?

Anti-5G crazies? T-Mobile partisans?

Telcos infrastructure is so broken. Why does an outage in Tennessee somehow affect areas in California and Texas (depicted in that outage map by the yellow areas)? ATT and other big telcos need to be broken up, and municipal run ISPs need to become the norm.<p>These outages should be local to the city and not ripple across the nation.

This may be a good time to remind everyone that you can&#x27;t give up privacy to obtain safety: the NSA spies on everyone, no warrants, and terror attacks still happen.<p>We&#x27;re not getting that for which we&#x27;ve paid, and it is time to demand a refund of our privacy.

And AT&amp;T&#x27;s list of plausible enemies is effectively endless...

This may be connected to the Dominion audit.<p>Last time I mentioned this rumor that I didn&#x27;t see addressed in the comments, I got silently downvoted. Perhaps because I didn&#x27;t provide links. So I&#x27;ll now provide links, because this deserves a closer look.<p>A skeptical layman contacted the Facebook post author and confirmed that it wasn&#x27;t a fabricated post:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;kr3at&#x2F;status&#x2F;1342673196470964225" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;kr3at&#x2F;status&#x2F;1342673196470964225</a><p>The author set the post to private because his phone was blowing up.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;kr3at&#x2F;status&#x2F;1342680906381799424" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;twitter.com&#x2F;kr3at&#x2F;status&#x2F;1342680906381799424</a><p>Human remains were found at the bombing scene, which suggests a body in the RV, possibly a suicide bomber babysitting the payload to prevent heroics, or a murder victim. Suicide bombing would fit the Stephen Paddock pattern.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bigleaguepolitics.com&#x2F;authorities-recover-human-remains-at-scene-after-nashville-rv-bombing&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bigleaguepolitics.com&#x2F;authorities-recover-human-rema...</a><p>This matters because as motohagiography observed, we&#x27;re missing a motive. Right-wing terrorists targeting infrastructure is a possibility, but they archetypically target electrical, not Internet, since they regard the Internet as their propaganda equalizer against the MSM and means of decentralized cohesion. Shutting down the Internet during the Presidential transition would seem contrary to their interests. (Targeting electrical also interdicts Internet, but the benefit of the havoc caused in Democrat cities outweighs this in their eyes.)<p>My original downvoted lazy comment: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=25542746" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=25542746</a>

Definitely look at some of the photos. Looks like windows, and doors for half a block were destroyed.

5G conspiracy-theorist suicide bombing is now the strong likelihood, due to the demographics of the primary suspect and the use of an RV. Boomer independent sole-proprietor businessmen such as this electrician &#x2F; internet IT guy trend heavily right-wing. His social isolation is evidenced by the gift of houses to an unaware single mom.<p>When the MSM loses credibility, people such as the bomber are set adrift to seek truth in hostile seas swarming with clickbait. Success in small business does not translate to epistemological accuracy. His failure to obtain a family to sublimate his death drive is a sign of societal breakdown. When sufficient numbers of combat-capable men fail to reproduce, they initiate violence, regardless of the proximate trigger. He reminds me of a less-intelligent, less-alienated Unabomber.<p>Given those facts, I&#x27;m comfortable deprecating the much weaker Dominion-AT&amp;T angle.

Is the FirstNet network only run by AT&amp;T or by other providers as well?

Id like to take a conspiracy stab. Could it possibly be insurance fraud by the restaurant owners? I mean covid hit their industry pretty hard.

several people in the area reported hearing several shots fired within minutes before the explosion. If it was a lone person, why was there shots fired?

Iirc telecommunications are common targets in coups and war. Combined with the professional manner in which it was done I&#x27;m thinking more Russia&#x2F;China&#x2F;Trump-won-loyalists and less 5g nutjob.

The game begins

&gt; I think bombers broadcasting warning messages is somewhat more common with certain types of political violence. I know weather underground bombings tried to choose times for their bombings when buildings would not be inhabited, not always successfully.<p>Just wanted to point out that dressing things up as &quot;political violence&quot; is a disservice; violence performed in the commision of promoting an ideology is terrorism.<p>edit: I expected this to spark conversation; I guess I shouldn&#x27;t be surprised that people would rather downvote than respond.

[removed]

This HN title is dangerously editorializing. The story says it was an explosion, not a bombing, but that the police are suspecting it was intentionally caused.<p>When &quot;media&quot; (yes HN you are media too) starts to drift the narrative, people latch onto it and they stop looking for evidence-based facts, and instead start looking for anything that supports their preferred narrative. You&#x27;d think 4 years of Trump and decades of Fox News would&#x27;ve been a lesson.

Likely an attempt to stop Dominion forensic investigation, headed by AT&amp;T. A suicide bombing via RV.<p>This is just my impression from today&#x27;s news skimming. Needs verification.

I am overcome with curiosity about who did this and why. The fact that nobody has claimed responsibility makes no sense. If this were a politically motivated attack, domestic or otherwise, it would almost defeat the point to have the name of your cause omitted from those initial headlines. And sparing the lives of the bystanders also doesn’t make sense for a political attack. I heard the NRA gave warnings but the reason why it’s basically unheard of is because it defeats the point of terrorism. The reason why Muslim extremists, the bonafide experts, make a point of killing lots of people is because it’s effective. What political organization has it in for att?<p>It can’t be political. Every day that goes by without someone claiming responsibility, the probability of it being political decreases exponentially.<p>But at the same time, this doesn’t seem like the work of a lone wolf. Lone wolfs usually try to kill people. And almost invariably they fail miserably, killing practically no people at all compared to the number of people that would have been killed at the hands of someone smart or competent with a weapon. And bombs stand out as being difficult for lone wolves to get right. For a lone wolf to build a working bomb and detonation system and have everything work perfectly the first time would be the exception, although not the only one.<p>This was done by one person. Not a typical lone wolf but someone who was smart and methodical. And I would guess he was in the vehicle when it exploded. He was either insane ala templeOS, had no motive ala Mandalay bay, or a disgruntled employee.

This is quite confusing to read cause the article doesn&#x27;t mention it as terrorism. They seem to play it down as some sort of violence. I&#x27;m not sure if this would have been the case if there were any Muslim involved.

Bombing was a government exercise.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bitchute.com&#x2F;video&#x2F;eY00nRw9rVXu&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bitchute.com&#x2F;video&#x2F;eY00nRw9rVXu&#x2F;</a>

The title is misspelled. It&#x27;s “AT&amp;T”, not “ATT”.<p>Also, that&#x27;s not the title of the article, though it is factually correct.

First thing I thought of was all the disgruntled door dashers with AT&amp;T as their provider. For those who don&#x27;t know, dashers who use use AT&amp;T have been impacted by some kind of network issue for the last month or so. It makes it difficult for them to use the doordash driver app and neither DD nor AT&amp;T have a fix at the moment.

Looks like somebody didn&#x27;t like Wonder Woman 1984.<p>I think folks on social media are overthinking the motive. A lot of people (most?) hate telecoms and big tech companies (including their employees and contractors) and someone decided to stick it to one. There are so many reasons for this, some logical and valid and some conspiratorial nonsense. In the end, it all boils down to the fact that living under the watch of these massive and all-powerful conglomerates makes many, many people deeply unhappy.<p>The country is a powder keg of armed, angry, diseased, lonely people and unfortunately, something like this was likely to happen sooner rather than later. It&#x27;s very sad.