In a development that could affect AT&T and Time Warner Cable, new legislation in Congress would give the Federal Trade Commission regulatory authority over broadband providers that want to impose limits on customers' bandwidth use.

The Broadband Internet Fairness Act (HB-2902) would require Internet service providers with more than 2 million users to submit proposals for bandwidth caps to the FTC, in consultation with the Federal Communications Commission. The FTC would have the power to deny the proposals if they impose rates or terms or conditions that are "unreasonable" or "discriminatory..."