The real root of the problem is lack of regulation. A scarce resource like the last mile copper and cable, is owned by the oligopoly of Comcast, AT&T and a few others. This constitutes in essence a monopoly, which are illegal for obvious reasons and led to the breakup of the old AT&T. Other countries have a last-mile sharing requirement, like for example in Germany. This provides at least a modicum of competition and consumer choice in the ISP market.
[EDIT] Corrected wrong assumption that old AT&T was government owned.
Yep. I have the choice of Comcast or AT&T, the latter of which only recently got competitive in the speed category. I was with AT&T for many years, before my current 10+ year stint with Comcast. They are both horrible on customer service and IT (managing their own infrastructure). It's really a toss up as to which is worse.
I know Google fiber will never come to the East Bay (SF area). It would be so nice to have, though.
It's really a mix of over-regulation and under-regulation, with a lot of regulatory capture. In this case the monopolies are not illegal, they're actually protected by regulation.
[EDIT] Corrected wrong assumption that old AT&T was government owned.