The net neutrality challenges continued this week as MetroPCS joined Verizon and sued the Federal Communications Commission over its open Internet rules.

Like Verizon, MetroPCS contends that the FCC has no right to regulate broadband, pointing to an April court ruling that said the FCC exceeded its authority by handing down a 2008 network management enforcement action against Comcast.

"MetroPCS is committed to promoting competition and an open Internet by giving consumers choices for wireless Internet access services at prices they can afford," Roger D. Linquist, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of MetroPCS Communications, said in a statement. "MetroPCS' concerns regarding the jurisdictional basis for the Net Neutrality rules, the recent appeal filed by Verizon, and challenges raised by some proponents of Net Neutrality to MetroPCS' recent 4G rate plans, have caused MetroPCS to appeal the FCC's Net Neutrality Order to ensure that the concerns of competitive wireless carriers, like MetroPCS, are addressed."

The net neutrality rules are arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion of the Administrative Procedure Act, contrary to constitutional right and otherwise contrary to law, MetroPCS said.

Earlier this month, MetroPCS dropped its LTE plan prices to as low as $40 per month for 4G service. The plan includes unlimited talk, text, Web browsing, and YouTube via the Samsung Craft. That prompted Free Press, which filed the initial network management complaint against Comcast, to accuse MetroPCS of violating the net neutrality rules because additional features like mobile IM or access to audio downloads available on higher tiers would be another $10 or $20 per month.

MetroPCS said at the time that those complaints were "erroneous."

"We continue to offer consumers a full service, unlimited data plan. We increased consumer choice by adding two new rate plans that are less expensive and enable consumers to select the service and content they want at a price point they can afford," Linquist said. "These new rate plans comply with the FCC's new rules on mobile open Internet."

On Tuesday, Free Press said the FCC lawsuit was a "full scale assault on the open Internet."

"Instead of responding to the public outcry over its walled-garden practices by offering open Internet access services, MetroPCS has chosen to follow the lead of Verizon Wireless and sue the FCC to strike down the Commission's weak, loophole-ridden rules," Free Press policy counsel M. Chris Riley said in a statement. "Like a thief caught red-handed, MetroPCS - rather than change its ways - is now trying to legalize stealing."

Verizon filed a similar appeal earlier this month. The FCC insists that it is well within its rights to regulate broadband, but in the coming years, will the FCC spend more time battling net neutrality lawsuits than actually evaluating net neutrality violations?

If the Verizon and MetroPCS challenges are any indication, the answer could be yes. In approving its net neutrality rules last month, the FCC relied on existing communications law to make its case - the same laws that were in place when the court handed down its Comcast ruling. Some consumer groups and net neutrality supporters were upset that the FCC didn't take the more drastic route of re-classifying broadband as a telecom service instead of an information service - a move that would make its authority over the issue more solid. The FCC said in early December that it would abandon that option in an effort to get industry support. In ditching that route, however, the FCC is in murkier legal water; as evidenced by the Verizon and MetroPCS suits.

On Tuesday, Sen. Maria Cantwell unveiled net neutrality legislation intended to solidify the FCC's authority over broadband regulation. It would create a new section in Title II of the Communications Act for the FCC's net neutrality principles, among other things.