Yesterday I went over my data for the first time in years and I have 4 days left so I really watched was I was doing. I reset my cellular statistics and I'm always on WIFI at home but when I did a facetime call I noticed that the counter increased for Facetime, even while being on WIFI. I turned off the cell data for Factetime and it still worked but did not use cell data this time. Anyone else see this type of problem?
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iPhone 8/Plus Facetime using cellular data on WIFI
- Thread starter simbr
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Near the bottom of your Cellular settings, there's a toggle titled "Wifi assist". Is it enabled?
What this does, is that it uses both cellular and wi-fi together to achieve faster speeds, in situations where the additional speed could be helpful, or when the wi-fi isn't super stable. It's relatively conservative about using cell-data, but if your wi-fi was flaky during the FaceTime call it probably kicked in to keep call quality high
What this does, is that it uses both cellular and wi-fi together to achieve faster speeds, in situations where the additional speed could be helpful, or when the wi-fi isn't super stable. It's relatively conservative about using cell-data, but if your wi-fi was flaky during the FaceTime call it probably kicked in to keep call quality high
No I tried at work, home, parents with all the same results. Right before I call I have full wifi signal, confirm I’m on wifi, google what is my ip to confirm I’m on the local network. I’m a computer technician so I can confirm I’m defiantly on wifi.
Just because you are on WiFi at the start of the call doesn’t mean it will continue. If you disconnect from WiFi for a split second, the FaceTime call will convert to cellular and will not go back to WiFi until after you end the FaceTime call.
When I turn off data the FaceTime has no glitches and works without problem so I doubt I was loosing wifi during the call
That’s because it doesn’t have cellular network to fall back on. Thus, if WiFi is weak, you may see buffering and a low network connection message. But if you have cellular on, it will fall back to that to prevent interruptions. The issue is, once it switches to cellular it cannot switch back until you end the call and make a new call on WiFi. It’s been like this since iOS introduced cellular FaceTime.
I tested at 3 locations again with full wifi signal and a few feet away from the router with the same problem. I tried at 3 locations a facetime call with data disabled for 5 minutes each, no buffer no glitch perfect call. Then when I enable cell data it will automatically select cell data no matter what. This is not a wifi signal issue.
Then there clearly seems to be an issue with your particular device. I tested 3 different devices this evening, none of which exhibit your behavior. You are very quick to dismiss it’s not a WiFi signal issue without actually being able to prove it’s not. Occam’s Razor.
Not the device. I have my wife's old iPhone 6, reset to factory, put my sim card in, made sure I was on WIFI with strong signal, confirmed WIFI connection, reset statistics, made a facetime call for 1 minute then checked the cell data for facetime was at 1.6 MB.
iPhone 6 ios version 11.2.1
iPhone 8 ios version 11.3.1
iPhone 6 ios version 11.2.1
iPhone 8 ios version 11.3.1
Don't know what to tell you, I tested an iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone 6s. All on 11.3.1/11.4. None used cellular data.
If you want FaceTime to not use your cellular data, you can just toggle off FaceTime under Settings>Cellular.
Make sure WiFi Assist is off under Cellular Settings.
Test. Take note under FaceTime cellular usage. Toggle on FaceTime under Cellular to re-test another call.
You can airplane mode and strictly use WiFi with WiFi Calling if you have limited cellular data.
Make sure WiFi Assist is off under Cellular Settings.
Test. Take note under FaceTime cellular usage. Toggle on FaceTime under Cellular to re-test another call.
You can airplane mode and strictly use WiFi with WiFi Calling if you have limited cellular data.