Ask Slashdot: Past and Present Bandwidth Comparisions?

Jonathan Locke asks: "this "Ask Slashdot" question about comparative CPU power led me to wonder if there isn't some attempt somewhere to do the same thing for connectivity/communications. Obviously, we've come a long, long way since the days of semaphores, smoke signals and telegraphs. But how far have we come? What does the bandwidth curve look like? (I assume the Internet would represent a seriously non-linear change, but maybe not). What are the theoretical limits on communications (# of nodes and speed of access)? Does it even make sense to compare such qualitatively different technologies as semaphores and OC48 lines?" Good question! I figure average bandwidth curve over the last 10 years would be an interesting thing to see.