Not sure if this belongs in here or in general, I figured its policy related since ISP's and the powers that be seam to go hand in hand, but nevertheless heres a video to explain the "bandwidth shortage" hype. Or if you will the costs related to the Price/Mb/s or price/GB/month data caps (note the numbers he gives at the end are the theoretical maximum of the fiber itself and does not take in to consideration the controllers abilities on either end of the line, which I do not know myself) And i know this isn't the only factor thats in play, and that fiber doesn't go everywhere (cough cough '96 TCA) but its also and idea of what we could do with fiber for all.
The principal remains the same for wireless connections, in that there is a finite amount of frequencies available to use. I used to have a Video where someone explained the allocation of this spectrum, ie: how much of it is used for telecommunications / Broadcast television / Radio stations / Ect.. If someone could find it I would appreciate it. I do remember that an ungodly amount of the Rf spectrum is being held, and going unused by T.V. Broadcast companies who don't have any incentive to sell it off so it can be used for other things because it just keeps going up in value due to the demands for better faster cellular performance, and why sell off today what will be worth more tomorrow.
Warning Science Content Ahead : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OOmSyaoAt0