Does Facetime require an internet connection?

[ftaok]

I was wondering this the other day. Does Facetime require an active connection to the Internet to work? By this, I mean if you have two iPhone4 users on the same wifi network (not connected to the Internet), can they use facetime to v-chat?

I'm thinking if you're in a work environment where you can't attach wifi routers to the network, could I bring in an old wifi router and just plug in the power? Then anyone with an iPhone4 could connect to this network just for Facetime (and perhaps stuff like filesharing, printersharing, etc).

Can anyone with access to 2 iPhone4's do an experiment?

 

[admanimal]

It's a good question. I am fairly certain that it does need an internet connection, if only to establish the call. The reason for this is that you are connecting via phone numbers rather than IP addresses, the latter of which you ultimately need for FaceTime to work. This means that Apple probably has a server somewhere that can do the translation between phone # and IP, and your devices must be able to connect to this server in order to get the necessary info.

Once the FaceTime call is established, it is probably just a direct connection between phones.

 

[Dr. Foosball]

nvm

 

[Small White Car]

This means that Apple probably has a server somewhere that can do the translation between phone # and IP, and your devices must be able to connect to this server in order to get the necessary info.

Yep. You've got it.

This is why some people who bought the phone, used Facetime, and then ported old phone numbers to the iPhone had trouble getting Facetime to work.

The Apple servers weren't updating themselves with the new number so they couldn't connect to anyone with Facetime.

 

[BeyondtheTech]

You guys should check out this article, as it has some technical background to FaceTime.

http://www.appleinsider.com/article...time_doesnt_need_a_mobile_signal_to_work.html

 

[ftaok]

Thanks for the replies. This is very interesting in how Apple handles the mundane aspects of these wonderful technologies and users just get to push a couple of buttons.