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FaceTime problems!!!

P

psywzrd

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Feb 6, 2008
2,837
35
I know a lot of you here don't use FaceTime but I use it on a daily basis (sometimes several times a day) and I find myself getting extremely frustrated with it. Between the freezing, stuttering and dropped calls, I'm ready to throw my phone out the window. For those that actually use FaceTime and use it often, do you have these kinds of problems with it? I FT with my girlfriend a lot and it seems like we both drop our wifi connection way too often and I can't figure out why. I use an Apple Time Capsule and she uses a Linksys wifi router and we both seem to have the same problem. If she's not dropping her wifi connection, I am and vice versa. If the call isn't dropping, we get constant freezing, sound dropouts, etc. When it works it works great, but it doesn't seem to work that well very often.

I don't understand why I can run SlingPlayer on my iphone and the wifi connection never drops but when I FT, it drops all the time. It will literally drop half a dozen times on a 30 minute call and there's just no way that should be happening. What is it about FT that is so darn unstable? If I can run SlingPlayer for 1/2 hr straight without it dropping the connection, shouldn't I be able to do the same on FaceTime?
 
Just like you, I use it multiple times per day, several times a week for about 45min - 1hr at a time and a few times I have gotten close to 3 hrs on a FaceTime call (on my iPhone ) and not once have I had issues like you described.

Device: iPhone 4, iPad 2, iMac and MacBook Pro
iOS Version: 4.3.5 (Not Jailbroken)
Mac Versions: OS X Lion
Router: Airport Extreme
ISP: Comcast High Speed
Speed: 25 Mbps down/ 4Mbps Up
 
saving107 said:
Just like you, I use it multiple times per day, several times a week for about 45min - 1hr at a time and a few times I have gotten close to 3 hrs on a FaceTime call (on my iPhone ) and not once have I had issues like you described.

Device: iPhone 4, iPad 2, iMac and MacBook Pro
iOS Version: 4.3.5 (Not Jailbroken)
Mac Versions: OS X Lion
Router: Airport Extreme
ISP: Comcast High Speed
Speed: 25 Mbps down/ 4Mbps Up
Click to expand...

Wow - I'm shocked and jealous! I can't imagine that it's a bandwidth issue for me since I do have cable internet and that wouldn't affect my ability to stay connected to my wifi router anyway. My girlfriend also has cable internet (Comcast like you actually) and she has the same problem as me so I'm wondering if maybe it's a jb issue (we're both jailbroken). I don't see why that would affect anything though.

Would you say that your facetime calls are crystal clear? I tried video chatting via Skype and the quality was so much better than facetime but I prefer to use facetime for obvious reasons. I really want to get to the bottom of this but my support calls to Apple have been worthless so I'm really hoping that someone here has a good suggestion for me other than going back to stock. That's just not an option for me and if jailbreaking is really the problem, I'd be shocked. Anyone here jailbroken and using Facetime frequently without the problem I described?
 
I too use FT with my wife and also friends down in Austin. The only time we see problems is when the network (internet) is having issues. I would more likely to believe that your issue is with something other than your iPhone. While still possible, I'd look at the wireless access points.

Try having you or your lady go to a different wifi location. Try it there. Same results, then the other relocate. Try again.
 
psywzrd said:
Would you say that your facetime calls are crystal clear? I tried video chatting via Skype and the quality was so much better than facetime but I prefer to use facetime for obvious reasons.
Click to expand...

On iOS 4.x, I wouldn't say that the call was crystal clear, but in iOS 5 it is said that the quality will improve. But the quality is the same wether I make a FaceTime call via my iOS device or my iMac.

iceterminal said:
Try having you or your lady go to a different wifi location. Try it there. Same results, then the other relocate. Try again.
Click to expand...

This is a good suggestion and a good effort in trying to pinpoint if your device has the issue or your network. Either try this at a friends house or down at a starbucks.

I know your Jailbroken, but what OS version are you on?
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A5274d Safari/7534.48.3)

U would be surprised at some I the issues jailbreak tweaks can cause. I never had any problems with jailbreak until jailbreakme.com came and I tried that. I restored and never used the pwnage tool afterwords and when I used jailbreak me I had all kinds of freeze ups, reboots and just crazy things.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A5274d)

Sometimes when I go to the home screen and I'm still on the call, when I touch to return to the call the screen is black. But I think that was fixed in one of the updates.

In iOS 5, I've been having this rare problem where I don't get FaceTime calls and I usually have to reboot the phone or call THEM.
 
Anyone jailbroken and using Facetime without any issues? I haven't had a chance to test out Facetime on a different wifi network but I'm trying to determine if the jb could be the cause of the issue. Apple support wants me to update to the latest OS version and I can't do that because I'm jailbroken and there's only a tethered jb available for 4.3.5. I can't see why updating would make a difference though as there seem to be plenty of people on 4.3.3 (or even earlier) who use it with no problems. Plus I still don't get why my phone has no problem holding a wifi connection unless I'm using facetime.
 
Don't feel too bad....there are a number of us who aren't about to go buy a new display just in order to have the built in camera. We're all still using the external iSight camera and FaceTime won't recognise (and therefore will not transmit) the audio from it's microphone.

I don't have a huge need to use FaceTime either....but I'd really like it if it would work properly anyway.



....sT
 
Same problems (but no Jailbreaking)

My boyfriend and I use FT daily and have been having the same problems. Calls freeze and drop constnatly. Usually he says he notices the error "Wi-Fi Connection Lost", and while I used to *never* get an error besides "FaceTime failed", lately I've been starting to get it, too. (Haven't changed internet provider or router or a danged thing on my end, either.)

We have two completely different cable providers, both on cable internet, both on different routers, and my MacBook never loses the WiFi signal in my house, unlike my iPhone 4 now. FT calls still drop when I've gone other places on other networks. We used to FT for hours at a time, but now the connection lasts a few minutes at most before there has to be a redial.

What could be causing this?
 
SheHulk said:
My boyfriend and I use FT daily and have been having the same problems. Calls freeze and drop constnatly. Usually he says he notices the error "Wi-Fi Connection Lost", and while I used to *never* get an error besides "FaceTime failed", lately I've been starting to get it, too. (Haven't changed internet provider or router or a danged thing on my end, either.)

We have two completely different cable providers, both on cable internet, both on different routers, and my MacBook never loses the WiFi signal in my house, unlike my iPhone 4 now. FT calls still drop when I've gone other places on other networks. We used to FT for hours at a time, but now the connection lasts a few minutes at most before there has to be a redial.

What could be causing this?
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have the exact same problem as me. Good luck finding a solution though. Apple wants me to update to 4.3.5 (not going to happen) so I can test it after a fresh restore.
 
since you guys are jb then make FT use 3G and test it; if there are no problems w/ the connection between you then the problem is w/ one of your WIFI connections. Sometimes if you have the iPhone next to a laptop or another WIFI signal or microwave you might drop the signal for a bit and the call would fail.
 
I've noticed at work, that if I go from one WAP to another I'll drop the call. But I'm sure you're not having that issue.

Again, I'd like you and your other thats using FaceTime to go to different places with wifi. Try again, just to see what happens.
 
I use it all the time and have not had the problems you are encountering. I recently swapped out my Airport and I've found that that has had a very positive impact on the signal quality.
Previously, I had some minor issues- not too much, but something. Since the swap, no issues whatsoever.
I think the notion of having your GF use a different WIFI location is a good suggestion.
 
I still haven't had a chance to test facetime on a different wifi network, but can someone please explain to me how my wifi network could be the problem when I can run slingplayer for as long as I want over wifi without it disconnecting but facetime will disconnect constantly? If it was a problem with my wifi connection, wouldn't slingplayer exhibit the same behavior as facetime?
 
why i gave up FaceTime

psywzrd said:
I still haven't had a chance to test facetime on a different wifi network, but can someone please explain to me how my wifi network could be the problem when I can run slingplayer for as long as I want over wifi without it disconnecting but facetime will disconnect constantly? If it was a problem with my wifi connection, wouldn't slingplayer exhibit the same behavior as facetime?
Click to expand...

i just gave up using facetime.
after 2 month of searching,router configurations, port forward etc

if the FaceTime call between 2 iPhones/mac etc, both are connected to apple routers like the aebs or a time capsule the FaceTime works 100%

theres some routers/extenders that are not compatible with FaceTime( but apple don't tell you that) yours can be one of them.

when i used ft with my aebs and i had no issues at all,
but when i change to a smc barracuda my ft became a bag of hurt.

my solution was ichat .
 
couto27 said:
i just gave up using facetime.
after 2 month of searching,router configurations, port forward etc

if the FaceTime call between 2 iPhones/mac etc, both are connected to apple routers like the aebs or a time capsule the FaceTime works 100%

theres some routers/extenders that are not compatible with FaceTime( but apple don't tell you that) yours can be one of them.

when i used ft with my aebs and i had no issues at all,
but when i change to a smc barracuda my ft became a bag of hurt.

my solution was ichat .
Click to expand...


I don't think that's it because I have an iphone 4 and an apple time capsule and I often facetime with my sister and/or niece and they're on an ipod touch and an apple airport extreme - same thing happens when we facetime.

I can't put the blame on my iphone or my time capsule either. Last night I ran air video on my phone via wifi for almost an hour and it didn't disconnect once. If the problem was with my phone and/or the time capsule, surely it would have disconnected at least once during that time. For some reason it seems like the phone has a hard time holding on to a wifi signal when using facetime. I have to think that the problem lies somewhere in the facetime client. I have no idea how that thing works behind the scenes but something isn't right. If I can run air video and slingplayer over wifi indefinitely and not get disconnected, I shouldn't have a problem doing the same with facetime either.
 
I used facetime for 2 months with my GF while we were in different countries. At least once a day, every day and i never ever had any problems. Both with iP4.
 
i use face time a couple times a day with my wife and 2.5 year old(he LOVES Facetime!)

I am jailbroken and do it over 3g from work (no wifi) i get 4 bars signal. My wife goes throught he wifi in our home.It works very well. Only time I have face time issues is when I am driving. No I don't look at the screen, sometime the facetime call comes in when I am in car and it routes through the handsfree.

I can't remember dropping a single facetime call. I spent a little extra to have a good router at home because we have 7 or 8 devices that connect, non apple router
 
Last edited:
So many inconsistencies here. Jailbroken, not jailbroken, appple routers, non-apple routers, etc. All I know is that I'm very jealous of you people who are able to use ft and not get tons of freezing and disconnects. Like I said, it's something I use every single day and it's very frustrating that it doesn't work like it's supposed to. My equipment is certainly not sub-standard and I can't come up with any logical reason as to why it doesn't work properly. I have to blame facetime itself since other apps using wifi run beautifully.
 
psywzrd said:
So many inconsistencies here. Jailbroken, not jailbroken, appple routers, non-apple routers, etc. All I know is that I'm very jealous of you people who are able to use ft and not get tons of freezing and disconnects. Like I said, it's something I use every single day and it's very frustrating that it doesn't work like it's supposed to. My equipment is certainly not sub-standard and I can't come up with any logical reason as to why it doesn't work properly. I have to blame facetime itself since other apps using wifi run beautifully.
Click to expand...
Add me to the list who has never had a problem with it, either over 3G or WiFi.

Don't assume you have no issues with your home network/service provider just because there are so many differences (not inconsistencies). Clearly you have a problem, somewhere, either the phone, the router, broadband provider, or the FaceTime service itself.
 
twitt3r said:
Add me to the list who has never had a problem with it, either over 3G or WiFi.

Don't assume you have no issues with your home network/service provider just because there are so many differences (not inconsistencies). Clearly you have a problem, somewhere, either the phone, the router, broadband provider, or the FaceTime service itself.
Click to expand...

I don't see how my problem is anywhere other than with Facetime itself. If I can run slingplayer, airvideo and any other app I want over wifi and not have a single disconnect, that tells me that my phone and router are having no problem communicating and my internet connection is fine. If I was dropping my wifi connection while doing other things, that would tell me that I probably have a problem somewhere. My only problem is when I use facetime.
 
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