Consumer advocates Consumers Union and Consumer Federation of America, and media reform group Free Press, want Congress to adopt legislation to compel telephone companies and cable operators to share their lines with competitors to ensure competition that would benefit consumers, reports MediaPost. The groups want Congress to overturn last week's DSL-related ruling by the Federal Communications Commission and June's Supreme Court decision regarding cable.

Together, those rulings may result in monopolies that limit consumers' broadband choices to one cable provider or one telecom DSL carrier, according to a Free Press report, "Broadband Reality Check." The result would be "higher prices, slower connection speeds and poorer customer service."

The groups also challenged a recent FCC report that U.S. high-speed internet access surged 34 percent last year to 37.9 million lines, from 28.2 million in 2003. Free Press challenged FCC's definition of high-speed as 200 kpbs, saying that "is barely enough…to receive low-quality streaming video."