The LECs get rid of an annoying nuisance. Modem users can surf to their heart's content, and traditional telephone users can continue as before. Moreover, everyone will see better service. Let's dig a bit deeper and see. The cost of a connection from home to switch represents substantial telco investment.
Individual costs can vary all over the lot.
Adding a line from a multi-wire cable of unassigned pairs costs little. Digging up the street to lay new cable, when an existing one fills up, costs a great deal. But, since this capital cost is incurred no matter how much a particular customer uses his or her line, it washes out in any usage-based comparison. As for the switch itself, its costs resemble the razor business. Three caveats, however.