I ran across this article about Google's planned experiment in Australia to provide Internet service via high altitude balloons. It immediately reminded me of a thread I started back in 2006 (blast from the past).

Back then, the experiment was to provide voice service, and this new experiment is to provide Internet service via a "4G-like" signal.

It appears that one major difference is the role of the jet stream. That old experiment used very high altitude balloons that slowly rose higher and higher as they slowly drifted westward at about 30 mph until they eventually burst from their own internal pressure. This new experiment seems to use balloons that will stabilize at a height that will utilize the jet stream (perhaps the subtropical jet stream) to encircle the Earth long term.