The main problem seems to be the lack of competition due to restricted infrastructure. In a lot of areas in the US, you only have one company that provides service to the area you live in. In a situation like that, the provider has little motivation to improve the service. This needs to be recognized as monopolistic and the infrastructure needs to be opened up so that it can be used by other providers.

Luckily, there is some decent competition in the wireless internet space. As technology continues to improve there, more people will have access to decent internet speeds wirelessly and the wired infrastructure will feel pressure to catch up. Hopefully more options for unlimited data plans will also become available in the near future.

As far as the absurd amount TV providers are charging for HD TV, DVR services and the like. Technologies like Netflix, Hulu, Apple and others are providing more internet-based services that provide this type of On-demand service at a much more reasonable price. I hope more content will become available on these types of services as more people realize how much better of a user experience it is over watching normal network TV (even with DVR).