January 7, 2007 4:00 PM
I currently have Verizon with the "unlimited" data plan, and the TOS expressly forbids streaming anything. You can use an unlimited amount of data, but only for the applications they sanction, which are basically email and browsing on your phone.
I've done a lot of reading on this and here is a very short summary of what I've found. They don't actually monitor what type of data your using, only how much, and if you use "too" much, they assume that your doing it by streaming, and hence violating the TOS. I've found two different references to how much is too much: one series of posts stated 10 gigs per month, another series state 5 gigs per month. In regards to the early termination fee, you wouldn't be charged that if they terminate you, and those who have received termination letters uniformly stated that they received only one, stating that they were off the network - no warning (which if correct just seems stupid on Verizon's part). The only response I found from Verizon directly stated something to the effect that 5 gigs per month was some number of times more than the average (iirc I think they said 10 times) and therefore they felt comfortable that you can only get to that level by "mis-using" the service, or in other words Slinging!
I use my phone every month for both Slinging and casual data tethering, but I do keep an eye on the total usage and keep it under 5 gigs to be safe. I had switched to Verizon from Sprint, but I agree with the comment above - wait for the 6800 and go with Sprint (unless they change their policies).