6:00 PM -- Has anybody noticed how bandwidth is suddenly back? 'Bout time.

Here's a big hint -- somebody's actually thinking about dropping another cable into an ocean again. Why, it's been nearly 10 years since we last dropped billions of dollars worth of iron and glass into the sea. (See Global Crossing Lost $10 Billion in 2001).

Let's compare to the bubble days, shall we? Back in 1998, Global Crossing -- then the poster child for bad cable bets -- was raising about $800 million or so for its Pacific Crossing project (PC-1). The intial bandwidth of PC-1? 80 Gbit/s. (See GlobalX: The Burst Bubble).

We're talking about less dough for something more than 10 times as fast. Sounds attractive. But isn't it also a bit like buying a flat-panel TV? By the time they drop that sucker into the ocean, the stuff will be half the price they paid.

— R. Scott Raynovich, Editor in Chief, Light Reading