The LA Times cites a Banc of America report which claims that prices for DSL and bundled services from the phone company are on the upswing, a trend that's good for investors, the article claims, but bad for consumers. The report notes that the average bundle of local phone, long-distance and DSL service rose 3% in a year. Introductory DSL prices, meanwhile, rose 34%, according to the Times.

"It's too early to draw a conclusion, but it appears that competition is not leading us to a race to the bottom," Banc of America analyst David W. Barden said. Instead, he said, a duopoly is emerging where cable and phone companies can avoid provoking price cuts in their core services. Carriers, for instance, can discount DSL service while keeping prices up on phone service, and cable firms can drop prices for phone service but maintain higher pay-TV rates."

Dave Burstein of DSL Prime also chimes in. He claims that AT&T has raised the price of U-Verse service twice since launch. FiosTV has also already seen a rate hike. This, of course, is in comparison to the cable industry, which usually refuses to compete on price when it comes to broadband, consistently edging up the cost of standard television service year after year.