You are correct - p2p is not the same as a torrent but lots of places do block skype. My ISP in France allows it at home but not over their free Wifi network, in UAE the Skype website is blocked as it contravenes the Governments' internet morality policy (read their telephone monopoly) but it still works - you just have to install it when you are abroad.
I never bothered to ask Deutsche Telekom about whether I'm allowed to use Skype. I just use it and it works. On my phone it works over the O2 LTE data service. I did see the small print in the O2 contract that says something about VoIP calling, but I just use it, it works, and given the unlimited data plan, I don't see anything on the bill. I also go to France rather often - I live very close to the border - and I've always been able to use Skype over free WiFi networks in restaurants, shops, McDonalds, etc. This is unfortunately necessary since the data roaming prices are still ludicrous. But I've never experienced any problem. Granted, I've never been or wanted to go to UAE.
I should have been more specific - with SFR Public Wifi (which I get to use anywhere in France by piggybacking off other peoples home routers as I'm a SFR subscriber) I can use Skype for messaging but they block video or voice calls.
It isn't a matter of T&C's which I'd obviously ignore - I just can't do it. I think the international FON network does the same.
Anyway, you were right - you shouldn't confuse p2p with torrents
I know for a fact that one ISP in the US throttles folks -- even though they adamantly deny it. I "upgraded" my service to 50Mbit download a while ago and then recently, I noticed that my download speed had plummeted. So, I did a SpeedTest and was getting in the 12Mbit range. I tried other PCs in the house and got the same numbers.
I got on a chat with my ISP and they "reset" my router (remotely), told me to try again -- and again, the speeds were low. So, they said my router was defective (??) and sent me a new one overnight.
Later that day, I tried SpeedTest again and then, the speed was back up to 50Mbit! Oddly, I had not done anything to the router.
So clearly, they were throttling me because they noticed that I do a LOT of downloading and wanted to reduce my load on their network.
Regarding the P2P, here in the US, some of the major USPs are pushing out faster Internet speeds. My own ISP now offers 50Mbit upload/download. A rival ISP offers 150Mbits speed. With those speeds, downloading a complete ISO of a DVD image (which I did a while back to create a Win 8.1 ISO to do a clean reinstall), takes only a few minutes. I've seen ads where XFinity is now also offering faster download speeds (I think they said 150Mbits).
So, here in the US, if you are with one of those ISPs, you would be able to download an ISO of Win10 in very short time.
Which, personally, I would choose over opening up my PC using P2P.
I am being very careful not to violate the forum rules here. VlC is not banned, actually it allowed in most countries and it is not pirated movies. People buy dvds overseas and want to watch them when they get home. You are allowed to do this on your computer. The difference is VLC doesn't change the region code, when playing out of region dvds like other DVD player does. Vlc is actually legal in most counties inclding the U.S. It is a certain file that allows you to play dvds on Linux and maybe even windows that may violate U.S. law but that questionable under a recent court case. What I find out that ironic about this you can download that file on servers located in the U.S. some owned by schools.
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I agree.
