Crossposted from https://lemmy.world/post/49286511

hehehehe I love fake tree/cactus disguises for equipment. If they ever figure out how to make hyper-realistic ones, I hope they use the comically fake-looking ones instead, because they're way funnier

We have a bunch of these disguised radio towers around here and it's extra funny because most of them are alone out in a flat, dusty field with no trees around, or if there are other trees, absolutely none of them are evergreens so the tower still stands out like a sore thumb. They would look better as cactus, even though cactus isn't even common in this part of the state.

I don't understand. Just some picture of normal trees? Why the caption?

Why don’t you make like a tree and get outta here

Hello, nothing here except cactus.

To be fair, it looks more like a real cactus (yaknow... other than the size) than the conifer style looks like a pine tree 🤷‍♂️

Less out of place but still comically odd.

How do you do, fellow plants?

One of those trees is not like the others… AKA it’s fake.

It's a fake tree hiding radios you may have used to download the jpeg of the fake tree

ALL cell towers should be disguised. They’re blights on the community.

One must first upload for others to download said JPEG

RF interference gets worse from shorter wavelengths in 5g unfortunately. The same people who hate these antennas are also the same people who complain that they don't get any good signal. This is just a compromise by bending over backwards

as someone from a place without cacti... fooled me idk.

Yes, but ALL should be clearly marked

They don't look too far off from some species of araucaria

Yup, and these disguised sites can cost 3-5x as much to install and maintain depending on the specific style needed for the area.

It also limits the compatible networking hardware that can be used, which can be more expensive than what's necessary for those locations.

Found the NIMBY that demands the 5x more expensive equipment, that isn't as capable because it has to be hidden, and still complains about service being bad.

Do you have a problem with the look of solar panels on houses as well?

Probably on your HOA board too.

Yeah I was just joking because it's so obvious lol

The palm tree ones are kinda cute though

Needs a big muscular cartoon arm holding a sign that just says “Tree!”

In the DR, especially in Santo Domingo, there are a lot of Norfolk Island Pine trees / Araucaria. They are the only conifers that can exist there at sea level, so they look super out of place surrounded mostly by palm trees and other tropical plants

They look exactly like the fake cell phone tower trees (photo below of them somewhere else), but they are actually real. Really threw me for a loop seeing them when I was there

Move on... Nothing to tree here

It's been mocked to death, but it's still better than a regular cell tower. Instead of a boring pylon with antennas, you get a funny fake tree.

The entire picture looks like a render to me tbh

Same. I think that the Sun is directly behind the camera, so we pretty much dont see any shadows, which makes everything look flat

Without ever having actually played it, it reminds me of Riven

LoL. Sorry, no. I just copy/paste stole it from a Google search.

Doesn't look like the Congo to me, but thanks for sharing anyway.

You went 0 for 3 with those guesses. 👍

But seriously, how much would it cost to get an artificial Xmas tree manufacturer to sell fake leafy-limbed wrappers to cover those things? Why they gotta look like surveillance systems…?

DR, not DRC. They mean Dominican Republic.

a lot more conspiracy theory working, though

"Hi, fellow trees"

If you see a church suddenly get a new steeple, there's a good chance it's a cell tower. The cell companies will pay for the steeple addition. It works out for the cell companies because they can usually get a deal to build the church a steeple one time instead of paying a lease for decades.