Comcast, AT&T seek to reassure on no plans for Internet 'fast lanes'

Comcast and AT&T have no plans to create Internet "fast lanes" that may hurt consumers' freedom to roam the Web, the broadband providers told Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

"We have repeatedly made clear -- both to our customers and more generally to the public -- 'Comcast doesn't prioritize Internet traffic or have paid fast lanes, and we have no plans to do so,'" Comcast Executive Vice President David Cohen wrote to Chairman Leahy.

AT&T said it had no plans to strike deals with third parties to prioritize traffic as it travels the so-called last mile of the network from the ISP's facilities to consumers' screens "without the knowledge and direction of the end user." AT&T's Tim McKone, executive vice president for federal relations, wrote that not all prioritization presents a threat to the openness of the Internet, pointing out examples like health or alarm monitoring. He also argued that reclassifying broadband would be a "legally dubious path" that would not actually prevent paid prioritization.