Federal regulators are abandoning efforts to negotiate a compromise on so-called "network neutrality" rules intended to ensure that phone and cable companies cannot discriminate against Internet traffic traveling over their broadband networks.

The announcement by the Federal Communications Commission ends weeks of FCC-brokered talks to reach an agreement on the thorny issue among a handful of big phone, cable TV and Internet companies. And it comes as two big companies that have been taking part in those talks — Verizon Communications Inc. and Google Inc. — try to hammer out their own proposal on how broadband providers should treat Internet traffic.

According to people briefed on the negotiations, Verizon and Google hope their proposal could help shape legislation in Congress.