Net neutrality advocates said they were concerned that members of Congress and minority groups were buying into false claims by broadband providers.

"The people who those members of Congress represent are the most at risk from the closed, controlling Internet that the phone and cable companies want," said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge, a digital rights group. "The constituents of these members of Congress have fewest choices of providers and access to the least competition. They have the lowest Internet data speeds, they have the diminished opportunity to use the Web to its fullest potential. They are being betrayed."

Ben Scott, policy director of media reform group Free Press, noted that the FCC is just beginning the process of looking at net neutrality rules.

"We want to remind members of Congress and the other lawmakers that have come out of the woodwork this week to question net neutrality, that the benefits of a free and open Internet to free speech, economic innovation and democratic participation are absolutely invaluable to their constituents in the digital age," he said.