Considering QWest offers an "upscale" offering...
...that uses the same equipment, but no PPPoE, ("Always on internet!") it appears to be some kind of market segmentation thing.
"Here at Ortillery Command we have at our disposal hundred megawatt laser beams, mach 20 titanium rods and guided thermonuclear bombs. Some people say we think that we're God. We're not God. We just borrowed his 'SMITE' button for our fire control system."