Will we need WiFi and a phone connection for FaceTime?

[AK10R]

Will we need WiFi AND a cell phone connection to use FaceTime? I work where I can get WiFi but no cell service.

 

[moka]

only wifi, i believe.

 

[uneek1]

only wifi, i believe.

Are you sure? I thought you could turn FaceTime on and off during your call. So therefore would also need cell connection..

 

[moka]

then maybe it requires a combination of both, that would make a bit more sense in my opinion.

 

[tombilske]

no its definitely wifi only. you cannot use it over cell networks. steve jobs said that it will stay that way until apple feels that the carriers are ready to deal with the increase in network load that will be inevitably caused by this.

 

[Revelation78]

None of us know just yet. I believe you only need a cell connection to initiate Facetime, then it switches to WiFi.

 

[stridemat]

no its definitely wifi only. you cannot use it over cell networks. steve jobs said that it will stay that way until apple feels that the carriers are ready to deal with the increase in network load that will be inevitably caused by this.

Facetime is activated during a normal phone call, which uses the cellular network. I would guess that it then sends the video over a WiFi network.

 

[elistan]

So that makes me wonder - if you use a 30 second cell-network call to initiation an hour long FaceTime conversation, do 60 minutes of your AT&T service get used up? Technically there's no requirement to do so - once you connect via TCP/IP over the Internet, the cell connection is no longer needed, right? - but I wouldn't be surprised if there's some stipulation in the Apple/AT&T contract that FaceTime calls use AT&T minutes.

 

[Chrysaor]

So that makes me wonder - if you use a 30 second cell-network call to initiation an hour long FaceTime conversation, do 60 minutes of your AT&T service get used up? Technically there's no requirement to do so - once you connect via TCP/IP over the Internet, the cell connection is no longer needed, right? - but I wouldn't be surprised if there's some stipulation in the Apple/AT&T contract that FaceTime calls use AT&T minutes.

You will still use cell connectivity for voice, only video will be transferred over the Internet.

 

[elistan]

You will still use cell connectivity for voice, only video will be transferred over the Internet.

Really? Interesting. Where did you see that mentioned?
It makes sense though. Considering how little data voice is compared to video, sounds like a contractual setup for the carriers, rather than any technical reason.

 

[jmmo20]

I guess this is a way for Apple not to piss cell networks off by allowing entire voice and video conversations over the internet.

now we need skype to support a facetime-like feature but entirely over the skype network

 

[ftaok]

So that makes me wonder - if you use a 30 second cell-network call to initiation an hour long FaceTime conversation, do 60 minutes of your AT&T service get used up? Technically there's no requirement to do so - once you connect via TCP/IP over the Internet, the cell connection is no longer needed, right? - but I wouldn't be surprised if there's some stipulation in the Apple/AT&T contract that FaceTime calls use AT&T minutes.

Well, seeing as how all iPhone4's are on AT&T (in the US), does it matter if it uses 30 seconds or 60 minutes of your airtime? Don't all AT&T plans come with free mobile-to-mobile within the AT&T network?

You will still use cell connectivity for voice, only video will be transferred over the Internet.

Considering how little data voice is compared to video, sounds like a contractual setup for the carriers, rather than any technical reason.

Not trying to sound snarky, but using cell for voice and wifi for video sounds like a recipe for extreme lip-sync/lag issues. I haven't seen the keynote video yet, but I'm guessing that the cell is used to initiate the phone call, then when the call is connected and facetime is iniated, I would think that both audio and video is sent entirely using wifi. At that point, I'm guessing that the cell call is terminated.

Or perhaps, there's no cell call at all and cell phone number is used as a videochat ID ... but then again, I haven't seen the keynote demo of this yet.

 

[elistan]

Well, seeing as how all iPhone4's are on AT&T (in the US), does it matter if it uses 30 seconds or 60 minutes of your airtime? Don't all AT&T plans come with free mobile-to-mobile within the AT&T network?

Good point that, I hadn't considered it. So even if the cell network is used for the entire FaceTime session, it won't could against your minutes. Nice.

Not trying to sound snarky, but using cell for voice and wifi for video sounds like a recipe for extreme lip-sync/lag issues. I haven't seen the keynote video yet, but I'm guessing that the cell is used to initiate the phone call, then when the call is connected and facetime is iniated, I would think that both audio and video is sent entirely using wifi. At that point, I'm guessing that the cell call is terminated.

Or perhaps, there's no cell call at all and cell phone number is used as a videochat ID ... but then again, I haven't seen the keynote demo of this yet.

Not snarky, we're just speculating about an unreleased product that Apple hasn't said much about yet. You know, the normal around here.

For what its worth, the keynote demo does exhibit some lip-sync and lag issues. And it is initiated by a normal phonecall first, then started by hitting the FaceTime button that shows up. From the demo, there's no way to tell what happens to the cell call at that point.