FaceTime Video Calls Still Limited to Wi-Fi as LTE iPad Rolls Out

[tekboi]

That's just ridiculous. These cell carriers need to step their game up and put all the money they rob us of monthly to use on more towers. And apple needs to fix this in an update.




****ing 3 years later and we still can't facetime w/out wifi? ridiculous.

 

[SeniorGato1]

Bring on the Jail Break!

 

[Amazing Iceman]

Why does Skype Video Calling works but not FaceTime???
And I believe there are other Video Calling enabled Apps. What's the deal???

 

[rjohnstone]

But they want Skype to do it... RIIIIIIGHT.

Skype is not built into the OS, so they have little control over it.
Facetime is baked into iOS and shipped on the device, so carriers have some say into how it works on their network.

Look at Google Talk. Vidoe chat is restricted to WiFi at the OS level as well.
Fortunately for Android users, it's easy to over ride the carrier setting by changing a 1 to a 0 in a db string.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

That's just ridiculous. These cell carriers need to step their game up and put all the money they rob us of monthly to use on more towers. And apple needs to fix this in an update.




****ing 3 years later and we still can't facetime w/out wifi? ridiculous.

YEAH! I'm going to have to move to Japan!

 

[No5tromo]

That's ridiculous, I've been able to make 3G video calls since 2004 on a Sony Ericsson that I owned. If they are concerned about carrier network congestion they should at least enable FaceTime on lower resolution and also respect the fact that iPads and iPhones are also sold outside the US where people do not care about American carriers restrictions.

Apple introduced FaceTime as something that came out of a sci-fi movie (lol..) when what it actually does is what we've been able to do for so many years, connect to the internet via wi-fi and use a webcam, duh.

On the other hand I've seen deaf people communicating using video calls on their cell phone, why restrict the right to communication to those people on Apple devices? This is stupid and inconsiderate on behalf of Apple but it's not the first time that their so called "revolutionary" products lack essential features that we have been using for years on other devices. Apple's always been half side on the advance wagon and half side on the slacking wagon.

And please don't tell me that it's not Apples fault, it's the carriers' fault, cause it's Apple that makes those billion dollars contracts with the carriers, and like I said the rest of the world doesn't care about at&t (what a stupid name for a company btw)

 

[Cygnus311]

Makes the lack of HD FaceTime camera even more inexcusable.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

Skype is not built into the OS, so they have little control over it.
Facetime is baked into iOS and shipped on the device, so carriers have some say into how it works on their network.

Look at Google Talk. Vidoe chat is restricted to WiFi at the OS level as well.
Fortunately for Android users, it's easy to over ride the carrier setting by changing a 1 to a 0 in a db string.

is it??? Wasn't it provided the first time as a separate app? What's so special about it to need to be baked into iOS besides now just being bundled with it?

 

[KnightWRX]

Skype is not built into the OS, so they have little control over it.

Hum... it's in the App Store, so they have as much control over it as they do facetime. In fact, again, Apple didn't allow Skype to implement video calling over 3G for quite a long time.

 

[charlituna]

The thing I wonder is how much people would actually use FaceTime outside of a wi-fi network.

The average person, probably never.

The not so average entitled whiners on sites like this that are simply mad about being told they can't do something because they don't like being told that no matter what the reason, if you listen to them it is the end of the world that they can't FaceTime on a cell connection. Classic first world problem.

 

[ossifer]

What's that in the background?

Looks like an Apple ][e ??

 

[nfl46]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

Well, I guess it's clear it's not Apple's fault. We have 3G and LTE iPads and carriers are still being an a$$!

 

[pack]

This has nothing to do with data usage.

It is fear of not being able to monetize voice and data transmissions on their network. If i'm using face time to speak with everyone why do I need more minutes? Even just audio.

 

[Bigskygangsta]

That's scary....

If that dude facetimed me I'd probably fail too. Scary....

 

[KnightWRX]

This has nothing to do with data usage.

It is fear of not being able to monetize voice and data transmissions on their network. If i'm using face time to speak with everyone why do I need more minutes? Even just audio.

VOIP apps that bypass minutes and work over 3G data are also allowed. Carriers don't care whether you're using data or voice, you're paying a monthly bill and that's all that matters to them.

 

[rjohnstone]

Hum... it's in the App Store, so they have as much control over it as they do facetime. In fact, again, Apple didn't allow Skype to implement video calling over 3G for quite a long time.

That would be Apple's decision, not necessarily the carriers.
Remember App Store apps are Apple's domain. I understand the carriers have "some" input, but Apple has the final say.

 

[GooMan]

I wish I could use FaceTime more often but I always need it when the other person or me is not on WiFi. I've tried Skype but the app is a piece of crap and I can never get it to work right. I really, really wish Apple could get this worked out with the carriers.

 

[Bubba Satori]

It's funny how Skype video calling works over 3G... yet it's the carrier's fault that Facetime doesn't.

So easy to blame the carriers.

Scapegoats are low hanging fruit that require little effort or thought.
Blaming them becomes a reflex and cathartic experience for the disenchanted.
Useful villians.

 

[xinu]

Facetime works just fine over 3G (via jailbreak), the carries just don't want several million people doing it over their network until they can find a way to charge for it.


I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be spending billions every year on adding or updating cell sites if they didn't think it was necessary.

How much a year? We spend about a billion a year here, so in US it should be trillions, not billions.

But because almost all customers are stupid and carriers are greedy, there you have it. Unlimited amount of restrictions in USA

 

[KnightWRX]

That would be Apple's decision, not necessarily the carriers.
Remember App Store apps are Apple's domain. I understand the carriers have "some" input, but Apple has the final say.

And iOS is also Apple's domain. And whatever they put in is also their decision.

You're not making a very convincing case here... What would the carriers do if Apple showed them the finger and made Facetime work over 3G ? Not carry the iPhone anymore ? I'd love to see a carrier try that card...

Sorry, I'm just not buying it.

 

[Born Again]

I don't get why it's okay for android phones to get video chat.

I guess for people on LTE u can use skype?

 

[djc6]

I've tethered my wi-fi only ipad to my Droid 3 (Verizon 3G EV-DO) for facetime purposes on numerous occasions and it works extremely well. This makes me believe the carriers are afraid of the ubiquity of facetime; installing/configuring skype and having your friends/family do the same is probably just enough of a hurdle to seriously curtail video chatting

 

[xinu]

I don't get why it's okay for android phones to get video chat.

I guess for people on LTE u can use skype?

Because Android Video Call software is made by Google.

And iOS FaceTime software is made by Apple.

And Apple is pissing to their customers faces blocking 3G from FaceTime. Not the carriers.

 

[jmpnop]

It's funny how Skype video calling works over 3G... yet it's the carrier's fault that Facetime doesn't.

So easy to blame the carriers.

That'd be the next "magical"/"revolutionary" feature in the new new iPad

 

[Lennholm]

I'm not surpried, but if you REALLY wanted to do it when you are out, just use your iPhone as a personal hotspot and connect that with the iPad via WiFi, that's if you really needed it of course.

That's such a simple work-around one has to wonder why they bother having the limitation at all. All they accomplish is making it more complicated for the customers.