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Some discussions about VoIP and the data 6 Jan 2008:
By Jim Krane from Associated Press:

When the telecom regulators in this country cut access to the popular Internet phone program Skype, the price of international calling skyrocketed.

The shutdown triggered an uproar among foreign residents who form about 80 percent of the population of the Emirates, a wealthy country with some of the world's highest levels of internet penetration.

As the ban was phased in, Internet voice connnections that costs about 2 cents a minute went dead. The remaining option was bitter one: pay about 75 cents per minute to phone Britain and 60 cents to call the United States during peak hours. ...

Etisalat, the Emirates' chief telecom and Internet provider, began to block Skype and other Internet phone providers this summer, arguing they had no license to sell phone service. ...

"People don't understand the harm of a provider that has no obligations to this country," said Mohammed Ghuaith, director of technology for the Emirates Telecommunicaton Regulatory Authority. "Are conversations secure" Are they being recorded? Will they steal information? Will they sell it? These are the things we need to look at."...

Other nations, too, have blocked Skype and similar VoIP services, generally using filtering software sometimes developed by U.S. companies. Internet telephony is illegal in most Gulf Arab states except Bahrain. .... other governments that practice Internet censurship, mainly in North Africa, China, Southeast Asia, and former Soviet republics.

By contrast, U.S. regulators will not tolerate efforts by phone companies that provide Internet access to block their customers' use of competing VoIP services. Madison River Communications Corp, a North Carolina company, agreed to a $15,000 fine last year to settle Federal Communication Commission allegations.

In 2002, Panama's government tried to block Internet-based phone calls, but its Supreme Court later struck down the effort.

Does this sound just like the RIAA verses music downloading?

From CNET of 3 Mar 2005 entitled "Telco agrees to stop blocking VoIP calls":

Port blocking isn't reserved for high-profile VoIP carriers like Vonage. Nuvio, a small Net phone service provider based in Kansas City, Mo., says its customers' calls have been affected by at least one cable operator. Nuvio has yet to make any formal complaint to the FCC, however. In September, Nuvio told the FCC that port blocking was inevitable, given just how easy it was to do and the economic incentives for doing so.

On 25 Mar 2005, from Network Computing:

In what the company claims is an effort to preserve the performance of its pre-standard WiMAX network, Clearwire says it reserves the right to prohibit the use of a wide range of bandwidth-hungry applications, a list that apparently includes VoIP as well as the uploading or downloading of streaming video or audio, and high-traffic Web site hosting. According to the company's terms of service, Clearwire reserves the right to restrict access or terminate service to customers who don't comply with its rules.

While a company executive claimed the restrictions were necessary to ensure network performance reliability, Clearwire could not explain how that issue would be resolved when it offers its own VoIP services in the near future. Earlier this month, Clearwire signed an agreement with Bell Canada under which Bell Canada will provide VoIP systems and services for Clearwire, at a date and price yet to be announced.

By Michael Hiltzik in Los Angles Times of 30 Jan 2006:

Virtually since the Internet’s creation, its most devoted protectors have been wondering how long it would take for the forces of unrestrained commerce to throttle its freedom and innovation.

Now they have a date: Some people believe the breakpoint will come as early as Jan. 6, 2008.

That’s when the telecommunications marriage of Verizon Communications and MCI marks its second anniversary and sheds an important restriction imposed by the Federal Communications Commission when it approved the deal in November: a requirement that Verizon comply with the principle known as “network neutrality” for two years following the completion of its acquisition.