"Applications and content providers that can afford access to the content distribution networks of Akamai, CacheLogic and others -- or that can build their own such networks, as Google and Microsoft have done -- enjoy marked performance advantages over rivals that cannot afford the use of such networks," AT&T stated. It added that no one considers those arrangements to be problematic or requiring regulation.

The National Cable and Telecommunications Association made a similar argument, asserting that "discrimination" at the Internet's content layer is pervasive. "Akamai speeds up content from favored sources like Google, Amazon and eBay," NCTA emphasized.

A Google spokesman responded that the Silicon Valley firm does not equate reliance on services such as Akamai, which use caching technology to enable Web pages to download faster, with the discriminatory practices it is seeking to prohibit.

Art Brodsky, a spokesman for Public Knowledge, an advocacy group that supports net neutrality rules, agreed. He noted that consumers have ample choices for search engines and other Web content but not for broadband providers.

"It's a total red herring -- a total diversion," he said of the AT&T and NCTA arguments. "The issue plain and simply is duopoly control over the provision of broadband."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Telecom Association, whose members include the Bell companies, cited a Google executive to bolster its argument that neutrality restrictions are unnecessary. USTA emphasized that Vincent Dureau, head of TV technology for Google, has cautioned that increased demand for Internet video could threaten the Internet's development. "Unless this traffic jam is managed, the value of the Internet to users could deteriorate," USTA warned.

On its newly launched policy blog, Google argued that limited traffic prioritization should be permissible so that streaming video and other bandwidth-intensive offerings can be managed effectively. It also endorsed "charging consumers extra to receive higher speed or performance-capacity broadband service."

Positions such as those have led some observers to suggest that Google, among other neutrality advocates, may be softening its stance to leave the door open for proprietary arrangements with service providers. But Google insists it remains committed to mandated content neutrality.

Major telecom and cable companies want to establish priority Internet lanes featuring faster downloads accessible to entities for a fee. Critics say that would result in a two-tiered Internet that favors deep-pocketed players, so they are seeking legislation barring discriminatory behavior.

Discord over net neutrality stalled telecom legislation last year, and Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., recently suggested it is delaying fresh telecom bills this year.