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At&t rumor - Facetime to go 3G

M

macbookpro45

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 20, 2010
342
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Although I can't 'back this up', maybe you can walk into your local AT&T store and confirm it.

My cousin picks up an iPhone 4 on launch day with me present; he asks about why Facetime only works over wifi. The AT&T sales rep says, it will only be like that for a short time. Facetime will most likely go 3G soon.

Again, no facts, no evidence, just that. I just wanted to share - if this does happens, which I anticipated, it sucks for those non-unlimited data users. It makes sense, however. Why put tiered data plans unless you were planning to release something that would be a data hog aka facetime. I mean, if 98% of your data users are using less than 200MB, and they're all paying 30$ a month, why would you change it? Time will tell...
 
uuummm...tiered because of tethering...has nothing to do with FaceTime.

Bandwidth is the limitation...it will happen, but know one knows when right now, especially some stupid store employee...
 
macbookpro45 said:
Although I can't 'back this up', maybe you can walk into your local AT&T store and confirm it.

My cousin picks up an iPhone 4 on launch day with me present; he asks about why Facetime only works over wifi. The AT&T sales rep says, it will only be like that for a short time. Facetime will most likely go 3G soon.

Again, no facts, no evidence, just that. I just wanted to share - if this does happens, which I anticipated, it sucks for those non-unlimited data users. It makes sense, however. Why put tiered data plans unless you were planning to release something that would be a data hog aka facetime. I mean, if 98% of your data users are using less than 200MB, and they're all paying 30$ a month, why would you change it? Time will tell...
Click to expand...

While I am sure FaceTime will be over 3G in the future, take anything an Att salesman says with a grain of salt.
 
I figured it didn't have anything to do with tethering, but I could be wrong. And you're absolutely correct about employees not knowing everything. Hell, I used to work at Circuit City, and we started more rumors about release dates and new products than any website out there.
 
Personally, I'd prefer it to remain solely on wi-fi. Careful what you wish for.
 
Lovely.

Just another use for my unlimited data plan...

...oh wait.

I'm capped at 2GB now even if I pay more for tethering...
...unless I enjoy overage fees that is.
 
macbookpro45 said:
Abusing technology, perhaps? I've been in the mindset I believe you are currently in.
Click to expand...

More of a concern regarding resources. I don't think facetime is a feature I'll use often, so I'd prefer not to have the network tied up for it :D
 
Apple said when they announced it that they were working with carriers to get FaceTime working on 3G. So I don't see why this would be surprising tbh.
 
I remember being very disappointed about thei Phone SlingPlayer app being Wifi only...I wrote to Sling Media Support to complain and they told me that they were working with AT&T and that it would be supported by 3G soon...
Sure enough, it was...it took about 6 months but they indeed DID follow through with the 3G access...
I think we will see FaceTime for 3G within the next 6 months...

I also think we will see a FaceTime app available for OSX to use with built in iSight cameras on Macs, and we'll see FaceTime on the next iPad with front facing camera and the upcoming iPod touch refresh coming in September...
Apple thinks this is a "magical" app that will assist their "sell through" efforts on several platforms...
 
It will be interesting to see, because I can see that forcing everyone to goto the $25 per month 2GB data plan. I myself have the Unlimited still but there is going to be a huge amount of more data flowing thru 3G so I wonder how this will all pan out :rolleyes:
 
macbookpro45 said:
Although I can't 'back this up', maybe you can walk into your local AT&T store and confirm it.

My cousin picks up an iPhone 4 on launch day with me present; he asks about why Facetime only works over wifi. The AT&T sales rep says, it will only be like that for a short time. Facetime will most likely go 3G soon.

Again, no facts, no evidence, just that. I just wanted to share - if this does happens, which I anticipated, it sucks for those non-unlimited data users. It makes sense, however. Why put tiered data plans unless you were planning to release something that would be a data hog aka facetime. I mean, if 98% of your data users are using less than 200MB, and they're all paying 30$ a month, why would you change it? Time will tell...
Click to expand...

i have no doubt facetime will go over 3g in the future, the only question will be the quality of facetime over 3g! :eek:
 
I don't think this will happen yet. They did a test with the Evo being a hotspot using 3G and video and audio was very choppy.
 
There's aboslutely no reason why it can't be supported right now technically because the bandwidth required is there; but then again, the popularity of the iPhone 4 and the massive bandwidth saturation it will incur will most likely cause AT&T to f3king explode.

The networks in the USA just aren't ready for the iPhone 4. Phone's are getting so much more advance, it's like back in the SLIP dialup days when your computer was so quick, but when you connected via dialup, it slowed your ***** down to 80486 speeds.
 
If it does

Something tells me if it does go 3G you video will not be full screen like it is...would be a great way to control large amounts of data...make the video size smaller...just a thought though!
 
baller1308 said:
I don't think this will happen yet. They did a test with the Evo being a hotspot using 3G and video and audio was very choppy.
Click to expand...

Engadget did a test using verizon wifi cards and it worked beautifully. This is nothing more than a 3G connection.
 
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