The Federal Communications Commission considered that Comcast Corp. violated federal policy by blocking the Internet traffic for some of its subscribers and last month ruled against the company.

Comcast did not receive a fine but it was ordered to stop limiting the Internet access for its clients who transfer large files. Even so, the company filed for appeal, claiming that its practices are reasonable and that its strategy is not to block the traffic but to delay it. Its officials tried to explain that the so-called data discrimination is necessary in order to ensure a safe and quick Internet access for everyone. "The commission's action was legally inappropriate and its findings were not justified by the record," explained Comcast Executive Vice President David L. Cohen.

The move was not anticipated by the FCC, which believed that Comcast will think of the decision as a good and valuable criticism. "I'm certainly disappointed they ended up appealing," FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said. "The commission has done a very thorough job on investigating the complaint. We thought we needed to step in and protect consumers' access to the Internet."

Comcast recently announced its new capacity policy, demanding that all users keep a traffic lower than 250 Giga Bytes. The explanation was the same, with its officials talking about the benefits of such a monitored access. According to their estimations, the new rule will only affect less than 1 percent of the subscribers who will just have to limit their Internet activities and make the best out of their 250 GB.