Hearings this week in the U.S. Senate about whether broadband providers should be required to give consumers access to all legal Web sites revealed a deep divide between broadband access providers and
Web-based companies like Google and Vonage that deliver services or information online. Representatives from Google and Vonage testified in favor of "net neutrality" legislation, which would guarantee
that broadband carriers allow consumers unrestricted access to the Web. Without such laws, they fear that Internet access companies will deny consumers access to competitors--as happened briefly last
year, when at least two broadband providers prevented consumers from receiving Voice over Internet Protocol calls through Vonage. -- Wendy Davis