Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
68,134
38,889



facetime_ios_icon.jpg
In a statement to The Verge on the future of pre-loaded apps, AT&T today revealed that it is planning to offer FaceTime over cellular to all of its customers on any data plan by the end of 2013.
For video chat apps that come pre-loaded on devices, we currently give all OS and device makers the ability for those apps to work over cellular for our customers who are on Mobile Share or Tiered plans. Apple, Samsung and BlackBerry have chosen to enable this for their pre-loaded video chat apps. And by mid-June, we'll have enabled those apps over cellular for our unlimited plan customers who have LTE devices from those three manufacturers.

Throughout the second half of this year, we plan to enable pre-loaded video chat apps over cellular for all our customers, regardless of data plan or device; that work is expected to be complete by year end.
When FaceTime over cellular was announced alongside iOS 6, AT&T initially restricted the service to its customers that subscribed to a Mobile Share data plan. AT&T soon expanded access, first to customers on a tiered data plan with an LTE device, and then to all customers with a tiered data plan regardless of device. Only customers with a grandfathered unlimited data plan were restricted from using the service.

AT&T plans to allow its unlimited customers with LTE devices access to FaceTime over cellular beginning in June, with full access to all customers becoming available by the end of the year.

Article Link: AT&T to Expand FaceTime Over Cellular to All Customers by Year End
 
But they'll still throttle you down to 2g speeds if you use more than 3GB on 3G or 5gb on LTE. AT&T is garbage. Unlimited my ass
 
Idk...I don't use it anyway. I'm more about the texts. And even thats pushing it. I just want to be left alone, honestly...:eek:
 
better to have this feature than to not have it at all, even if it's barely used outside of wi-fi
 
Basically, they realised it wasn't taking up as much bandwidth or traffic on their network as they thought, and so they're receding on their original plans...
 
I'm still grandfathered in on their unlimited data plan. Doesn't look like this will change anything for me. :rolleyes: Although I'm not surprised.
 
My iPad mini Facetime over cellular was activated about three weeks ago. I have a grandfathered unlimited plan from the original ipad, but don't use Facetime much at all, especially enough to see how much I might get throttled if I use too much data.
 
The damage has already been done for AT&T - the bad press they received when FaceTime over cellular first was enabled by iOS 5(?) will far outweigh the limited positive press they get from this announcement.
 
So,,,they're going to allow my device to work as it's designed and capable of.

Thanks.

I'm grandfathered Unlimited...on an iPhone4.....so, by the end of the year I'll finally be able to FT over cell...not just wireless. About damn time.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.