MacRumors received this screenshot from an anonymous reader today stating that it looks like Apple is preparing to take FaceTime over the carrier frequencies. It will probably be limited to 3G only, and not Edge. This is all speculation of course.
Unless you are apart of the jailbreak community, you are limited to FaceTime over wifi only, but if you jailbreak your device you are able to FaceTime over 3G via the MiFi app from Cydia.
Apparently it will be up to the carriers to allow or disallow it. What do you think, will AT&T and Verizon say yay or nay?
[9to5Mac]
Reader comments
iOS 5 to bring FaceTime over 3G?
What kills me is Skype with Video over 3G on my Verizon iPhone4 works fine.
If the connection is good the video is fine,
if the connection is not so good like 1 or 2 bars of 3G
then the video is a tiny bit choppy.
But how is it Skype can do it but Facetime cannot.
I believe its a decision by the carriers (Verizon and AT&T)
to not allow it simply because if they did everyone with an iPhone4 would try to use it and it would choke the network.
I think Skype is allowed to do it because not everyone will,
make a skype account,
install the app,
log into it on the phone.
too bad you don't know what you're talking about, there is no such thing as MIFI ,what makes it posble to use FaceTime on 3g is 3G Unrestrictor or Facebreak both from Cydia. So why don't you do some homework before you wright shit.
....wright?
AT&T will say no. They've already shafted all of the jailbroken tether users.
The Carriers will eat this up!! Although this may slow down their data, the users of the phone will be so much more prone to go over their monthly data allotment.
I agree, certainly Verizon would. They had Skype pretty early running Video on 3G and Android phones I think already can do a similar thing using Qik and Verizon has never blocked these app's at all.
Verizon would be wary of blocking app's like these, especially as they roll out 4G, they don't want to be in a position where they boast that their data service can do this and that and the other thing and at the same time block video calling using Facetime etc on the basis that it may lead to high data usage.
From their point of view, especially when tiered plans come into effect it will make them more $$$$ if people went over their data limits and had to pay for extra bandwidth during the months.
Cell networks are getting faster and I'm sure it'll work well with LTE, but my experiences with Facetime-over-3G can be summed up as "frequently choppy". Audio stays decent (and actually better than AT&T cellular audio, often), but the video tends to become more of a slide-show.
(When can I buy a phone contract with tons of data, but ZERO minutes?!)
If AT&T does this , how many FaceTime calls can someone make within 2GB of data along with their regular use ?
Lets see...it took AT&T about 2 years to allow tethering and Verizon right at start up to allow the same feature. My bet is that AT&T will wait another 2 years to allow FaceTime over 3G or 4G...no wonder they have the lowest customer satisfaction.
I thought verizon already could FaceTime over 3G as well as quitena few carriers outside the us. Anyway other than tango there is an app called Qik that allows 3G video calls and also is cross platform so i can video call my buddy in Texas on his sprint android phone
@ Digicol - Ever since tethering was introduced, it has acted like a 3G Internet dongle service. Anything you can do on a device connected to a wifi dongle at home, you can do on a device tethered to an iPhone.
I agree with you that there are other countries besides the US. However the overwhelming majority of those who read this blog are in the US.
I've used FaceTime on Edge with my jailbroken iPhone 4. I use 3G Unrestrictor. It works fine. the quality is just as good. The picture has frozen on me maybe two times out of a few hundred times. Maybe I just have the best Edge service in the world! LOL
Anybody hear of tango? There's an app for that
I would guess it will be enabled on iphone 5 for sure having the hspa+ chip along with AT&T promoting "4G"
The only guessing now will in fact be what is coming to iphone 5 only as features Apple will announce in a few months.
Skype already works over 3G. No reason to expect the quality of Facetime over 3G to be any worse than Skype over 3G.
I use Face Time quiet a lot as most of my friends and family have an iPhone 4 so 3G usage would be a great addition. By the way, the world doesn't revolve around the US. There are other countries that use iPhones and loads of different carriers. Why do we constantly have to hear about Verizon this and AT&T that blah blah. You have much more than just US readers of this blog.
One other thing. When I'm tethering my iPad 2 to my iPhone 4 using personal hotspot and the Vodafone Ireland 3G Connection I can use FaceTime on my iPad 2 ?? Anyone else noticed this ??
Probably because Rene and Georgia and the rest are from the us. So therefore att and verizon are the biggest carriers that effect them? Heck Rene is on Rogers I believe and you never hear about Rogers either. Most the controversy is with att and verizon I guess
Calm down big guy. Obviously majority of readers are state side. No a big deal.
Apple's from the US. The majority of readers are from the US. I'm from Australia and I like to know what's going on in the US. I want to know what's happening about anything to do with the iPhone, so I read this blog. Part of it is the whole Verizon, at&t stuff.
Ignore what you don't want to read.
Because every time there's a story about some non-US carrier, there are less than five comments because nobody gives a damn.
We can only hope! Sometimes I wonder who has more control issues Apple or AT&T? I would love to use this option more.
Facetime on ios5 beta does work over 3g. I was surprised to find this out yesterday while i was out.
How was the quality?
It does not work for me .. You have a GSM or a CDMA iPhone. I have CDMA and it wont let me do FaceTime over 3G .. I have iOS 5 beta 1 installed on my phone.
I can see the potential with facetime, although I wonder how well the video quality would be over 3G. Tango is a free, cross-platform video chat app which works over 3G, but I don't use it unless I have a wifi signal available. The app doesn't get much use since the video/call quality and the ability to hold a call can vary depending on how strong the network signal is.
If they still had an exclusive, AT&T would definitely say no...today, maybe not. They'd like to say no, but if they think there are good odds Verizon will say yes, AT&T will have to follow suit. Verizon will similarly not want to be known as the non-Facetime carrier. It's a staring contest, and neither will want to blink. Competition is good.
Meanwhile, I have used Facetime perhaps twice, as almost all of my contacts are longtime Skype users.
I was thinking the same thing about iMessage, that since they've broadened their base, they can now do stuff like this.
+1 Same here. I use Skype more than I do Facetime. I think I've used it once since it was made available. Of course we'll have to see what happens to Skype once Microsoft gets their hands on them.
It really depends on what you do for a living. Im an over the road truck driver and being able to FaceTime with my family almost every day would be great. As of now I can only do it when I find somewhere like mcdonalds that has free wifi which isn't as easy as you would think. Hopefully it will work out that way.
Jason I too do the same as you. You really should jailbreak as I did. With 3G unrestricted. I'm able to do things that normally require a wifi connection(i.e FACETIME)and also play games such as Doodle Jump with my kids, it works great over 3G. I have the Verizon version.
When u jailbreak u can FaceTime anywhere anyplace on 3G
Jason, you might also consider the Yahoo Messenger and/or Skype apps. It's possible to video chat over 3G on those. I know how important it is to keep in contact with family. Wish you the best.
Nice sounds good... But only used FaceTime once and not a big fan but coo lil feature to have thou