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Focker

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 24, 2010
51
0
Is amazing. My wife had to fly across the country for a wedding and she has free wifi at the hotel so we've been able to FaceTime everyday. We have a 5yr old and 2 1/2yr boys, so it's been a joy for them to see and talk to mommy. Such a valuable feature! This is great. Anyone else have similar experiences?
 

iPhonedHome

macrumors 6502
Jun 10, 2008
306
0
Dallas
Not yet as my wife hasn't gotten her iP4 yet but being able to not only talk to your kids but see them as well makes FaceTime greatness!
 

Jelite

macrumors 6502a
Feb 16, 2008
668
1
UK
I never really thought about it at first but it's free worldwide mobile video calling, as long as your in a wifi spot of course.
 

R94N

macrumors 68020
May 30, 2010
2,095
1
UK
I never really thought about it at first but it's free worldwide mobile video calling, as long as your in a wifi spot of course.

Yeah, it's pretty cool. I haven't used it but I can imagine it's great. Skype did used to exist before though.
 

DonnieZ

macrumors member
Jun 18, 2010
33
8
Facetime is one of my favorite features. I surprised my wife with a new iPhone 4 on Launch day, she thought I was only able to get one reservation, but I got two.

We use Facetime almost every day when both of us are at work. Works out especially good for me because I get no AT&T signal in my office, but I have full WiFi as I have an AP in my office. My Mom also got an iPhone 4 on launch day. We live 60 miles apart and we use facetime a lot. It was one of the features on the iPhone that I was kind of like "Ok, it's there but won't be very useful" but it's actually probalby my favorite feature of the upgrade from my 3G.
 

Focker

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 24, 2010
51
0
Facetime is one of my favorite features. I surprised my wife with a new iPhone 4 on Launch day, she thought I was only able to get one reservation, but I got two.

We use Facetime almost every day when both of us are at work. Works out especially good for me because I get no AT&T signal in my office, but I have full WiFi as I have an AP in my office. My Mom also got an iPhone 4 on launch day. We live 60 miles apart and we use facetime a lot. It was one of the features on the iPhone that I was kind of like "Ok, it's there but won't be very useful" but it's actually probalby my favorite feature of the upgrade from my 3G.

Yep. I have wifi at work as well, so we use FaceTime so I can see the kids. (she's a stay at home mom). It's been one of our favorite features.
 

Rojo

macrumors 65816
Sep 26, 2006
1,328
241
Barcelona
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A306 Safari/6531.22.7)

Question - has anyone been able to make a successful FaceTime call internationally?

My boyfriend and I used FaceTime a few times while both in the same city, and it worked beautifully. When he was about to go on a trip to Spain for three weeks, we were excited about the possibility of us FaceTime-ing each other while thousands of miles apart. We tested it beforehand to make sure we didn't need to make an actual phone call to establish FaceTime (by putting both phones on airplane mode, and using the FaceTime button in each other's Contacts entry).

However...since he's been in Spain, we haven't been able to make a successful FaceTime call to each other yet. Granted...he hasn't been able to have his own wifi yet. He's been borrowing it from neighbors, stores, or friends. We were thinking maybe he just never latched onto a strong enough wifi connection, but now he definitely HAS had strong wifi at times - and yet it still never works. Anyone else know what the problem is? Is there a way it detects it's going to be an international call, and prevents it? Would love to know if anyone else has made a successful International FaceTime call....
 

macfan881

macrumors 68020
Feb 22, 2006
2,345
0
I demo'ed the Facetime at the apple store by me it worked great I really hope skype pulls out a update for conference calls or Apple eventually uses iChat as a messaging system would be much better though.
 

JediMeister

macrumors 68040
Oct 9, 2008
3,263
5
My sister-in-law and nephews used it to talk to my brother who was in Seattle for business while they were visiting Sacramento, CA. The kids got a kick out of it.

@ Rojo: I haven't tried an international FaceTime call, I don't know too many people abroad with iPhones yet, but here's an Apple support article with some recommendations for WiFi connections that utilize firewalls. A few clarifying questions/suggestions about your FaceTime issue however: 1) Do you see a message about "Waiting for Activation"? If so, toggle FaceTime off and then back on via Settings->Phone->FaceTime. 2) Do Push notifications work on your boyfriend's phone while he's abroad? 3) Has your boyfriend tried to restart his iPhone?
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
Is amazing. My wife had to fly across the country for a wedding and she has free wifi at the hotel so we've been able to FaceTime everyday. We have a 5yr old and 2 1/2yr boys, so it's been a joy for them to see and talk to mommy. Such a valuable feature! This is great. Anyone else have similar experiences?

I agree.
I use it every day too.
Its great to talk to your loved ones but even better to see and talk to them.
Some people say they will never use it and its worthless but once it opens up even more with computers, skype and other chat programs it will take off even more.
Great to have for sure.
 

dave006

macrumors 68040
Jul 3, 2008
3,566
889
Just West of East
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_0_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8A306 Safari/6531.22.7)

Question - has anyone been able to make a successful FaceTime call internationally?

...
Yes I have used Facetime from China to the USA. The video and audio was just as clear as if we were on the same wireless AP. Switching from the front camera to the back camera took a slight pause due to the HD back camera.

It is a great way to show someone a realtime view of where you are and what is near by, as a frequent traveler it is a great way to include the family in the trip. Don't have to wait for the Camera roll to be uploaded or emails to be sent.

Reference note: I had iPhone 4 in Airplane mode with only WiFi enabled so no issue with needing voice support or an accidental international call. I also had my US AT&T SIM in the phone.

Dave
 

patent10021

macrumors 68040
Apr 23, 2004
3,507
792
I never really thought about it at first but it's free worldwide mobile video calling, as long as your in a wifi spot of course.
That's what I was wondering. Since it's via WiFi it's globally free isn't it? No catches or snags? I can Facetime from Japan to Vancouver with my family. I think that's great.

But what about the quality? I'm sure it doesn't look anything like the pristine videos on the commercials. What's it like?
 

rm328

macrumors newbie
Aug 1, 2010
6
0
That's what I was wondering. Since it's via WiFi it's globally free isn't it? No catches or snags? I can Facetime from Japan to Vancouver with my family. I think that's great.

But what about the quality? I'm sure it doesn't look anything like the pristine videos on the commercials. What's it like?

Great in well lit areas, a little fuzzy otherwise.
 

Applejuiced

macrumors Westmere
Apr 16, 2008
40,672
6,533
At the iPhone hacks section.
But what about the quality? I'm sure it doesn't look anything like the pristine videos on the commercials. What's it like?

The quality is great as long as you're both on a good wifi connection with fast upload and decent download speed. Thats the only key, not the distance.
It doesnt matter if your wifi facetime session is a few blocks away or across the world.
 

Focker

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 24, 2010
51
0
The quality is great as long as you're both on a good wifi connection with fast upload and decent download speed. Thats the only key, not the distance.
It doesnt matter if your wifi facetime session is a few blocks away or across the world.

This. I noticed when my wife was at the airport, FaceTime would freeze/stutter somewhat. Probably from thousands of people using the wifi network. But at her hotel, the quality was smooth and clear.
 
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