Should DSL Cost Less Than Fiber?

How do big broadband providers get away with charging the same prices in urban areas for both slow and fast broadband? An Associated Press article found that one customer was paying the same price for 1 Mbps DSL from AT&T as other city residents were paying for a fiber connection. It would be easy to justify charging the same price for both technologies if AT&T was in the process of converting everybody in New Orleans to fiber, but this is not the case. The most likely answer to the question is the ugliest: AT&T doesn’t feel like it needs to reduce the price of DSL in the city because DSL customers are a captive audience. Another reason that AT&T can charge the same for DSL and fiber is that there isn’t anybody to tell the company that it shouldn’t do so. The Federal Communications Commission eliminated broadband regulation and the Louisiana Public Service Commission doesn’t assert any authority over broadband prices.