CAVEAT EMPTOR

As industry events of commerce and exchange, spectacles such as Supercomm now have to compete with bankruptcy courts and online asset auctions such as the one that liquidated the last of @Home's unwanted stuff last week.

At one point, more than 3000 bidders were tuned in to the endless list of unemployed routers, servers and PCs, as well as such telltale office curio as a foosball game, a foot massager (perhaps part of some never-revealed new access device) and a soap box derby racer with the “@” logo on the hood.

Welcome to the fast-paced garage sale that is the telecom industry, where the participants are just as likely to sell you chunks of their company as the telecom services they provide.

If WorldCom, turgid from 75 acquisitions in five years, can't cut loose enough cargo to escape its $30 million debt load, it could end up cutting deals in bankruptcy court. Global Crossing executives know the feeling. They're under more pressure than their submarine cables, the last offer for which, by two Asian firms, was something like 30¢ on the dollar.

MFN just filed Chapter 11 last month, and if its leaders think their metro fiber assets will be easy to move, they should talk to the folks at e.spire, which have been in bankruptcy for more than a year and are still searching for a buyer. At press time, imperiled cable company Adelphia Communications was reported to be in the midst of its own frantic garage sale, selling off subscribers in an effort to make bond payments in the wake of shareholder lawsuits and an SEC investigation.

Some of telecom's most recognizable leaders — Bernie Ebbers, Ellen Hancock, Nick Tanzi, Gary Winnick — have been disposed of as well because, despite how quickly they built the pyramids, they couldn't tear them down nearly fast enough. Their successors would do well to ask themselves the following question before every big endeavor: If I do this, can I undo it if I have to?

At auctions, in bankruptcy court and at Supercomm, there are bound to be bargains galore from desperate dealmakers.

To those who do have money to spend: Shop smart. Remember that in a gutted office building last week, some of the industry's most sophisticated networking equipment ended up alongside a foot massager and a foosball table.

And to the buyer who scooped up the @Home soap box car in last week's auction for $600, a disclaimer: It's built for speed, but there's no engine. If you want it to work, you have to get behind it and push.

Oh. It also has no brakes, so if you push too hard, well….