Now this is an idea I've been tossing around for a while, and as it seems a bit premature to patent it it does seem to explain a few things.
The idea is this: A Quantum Interstellar Relay. As that probably doesn't help you, allow me to explain. Using the principles of Quantum Entanglement a beacon or relay is set up at a point equidistant between two stars. Probably this would be near a star that happens to be close to midpoint between earth and the star or quadrant we wished to be communicating with, the star serving to provide a ready source of energy for the beacon.
Now if you've watched any science fiction you're probably aware of the trope where communications are hampered by the speed of light - distant colonies and spacemen waiting years for messages from earth. The quantum relay would solve this. From the midway point or beacon/relay two or more streams of entangled particles are directed both at Earth and at the colonies. While the initial stream of entangled photons or particles would take X number of light years to reach both the colonists and Earth, communications between them afterwards will be near instant - changes in the entangled quanta beam arriving at earth will be exactly mirrored to the colonists/spacemen, software could be used to decrypt images, video, holograms, or even just text. Instant communication (I expect that it won't be instant, the point nearest to "equidistant" that we find might be a few light-minutes or hours away from "center", but it sure as heck beats waiting years...).
This is an easy solution, and as far as I can tell, reasonable. The galaxy and even universe could eventually be populated with these relays or beacons, a communication network of sorts, that would allow for (relatively) instant communications between all the stars, without the wait or restrictions imposed by the speed of light.
Taking this one step further, lets look at SETI, scanning the sky for radio signals that might indicate intelligent life somewhere else in the Galaxy. This might not be the best way to go about it. On Earth, we've used radio loosely for less than 100 years, and detecting those signals that have leaked into space would be a major task. With the increased advent of Satellite communications very few of our signals have been "leaking" into space, and our electromagnetic "footprint" has become almost invisible.
What advanced civilization would choose, given the limitations of time and energy, to communicate via radio waves? I'm guessing none. For the fifty or hundred years that they represented the zenith of technology, maybe; but once they've moved on they'll probably choose the more instant methods suggested by quantum entanglement. Which suggests that instead of radio waves, we should be probably looking for entangled photons, or other, more instant, signatures of intelligent life, and hope that somewhere out there there's a beacon or relay directed at us...