Facetime

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Is Facetime a phone call or call over the internet? In other words, when traveling overseas, will Facetime usage be billed as an (expensive) phone call?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    It's data, not a phone call. And I think it's still Wi-Fi only, so you don't have to worry about it wasting your cell data.
  • Reply 2 of 12
    Facetime is definitely wifi only. Note that some countries block VOIP services, including Facetime, so you will want to check on that beforehand. I have also found in my limited experience with Facetime that once you have a wifi connection established, turning off 3G helps a lot in keeping it especially if the signal strength is weak.
  • Reply 3 of 12
    its using wifi. its really smooth when i am overseas but really depending on your connection
  • Reply 4 of 12
    drdoppiodrdoppio Posts: 1,132member
    Does anyone have any idea, what happened with the plans for making the specifications to FT public?
  • Reply 5 of 12
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DrDoppio View Post


    Does anyone have any idea, what happened with the plans for making the specifications to FT public?



    Did they say that, or did they say, "open standard"?



    Can't see Apple just letting Android/Windows Phone 7 phones get FaceTime.



    When Apple merges iChat, iMessage, and FaceTime into one application on both iOS and OS X, then we can revisit all that talk, I think.
  • Reply 6 of 12
    drdoppiodrdoppio Posts: 1,132member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Did they say that, or did they say, "open standard"?



    Can't see Apple just letting Android/Windows Phone 7 phones get FaceTime.



    When Apple merges iChat, iMessage, and FaceTime into one application on both iOS and OS X, then we can revisit all that talk, I think.



    You can't have an open standard without having it public and, you know, open. It seems that a communication protocol is most useful if others want to use it too, that's why it was promised to become open, isn't it?



    It's been almost two years since it was announced, is it too early to expect that it would have already been opened?
  • Reply 7 of 12
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DrDoppio View Post


    It's been almost two years since it was announced, is it too early to expect that it would have already been opened?



    You mean barely a year and a half.
  • Reply 8 of 12
    drdoppiodrdoppio Posts: 1,132member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    You mean barely a year and a half.



    So? Clearly not "tomorrow", as the late Mr Jobs said.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DrDoppio View Post


    So? Clearly not "tomorrow", as the late Mr Jobs said.



    When Apple creates something that is meant to be used by everyone, everyone shies away from it.



    iChat. 2004. Used the best of existing protocols. Apple wanted everyone else to make their stuff compatible with it.



    Everyone refused. And I still don't know why. Now we have these Skype people who won't integrate Skype with anything?



    Ah, whatever.
  • Reply 10 of 12
    drdoppiodrdoppio Posts: 1,132member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    When Apple creates something that is meant to be used by everyone, everyone shies away from it.



    iChat. 2004. Used the best of existing protocols. Apple wanted everyone else to make their stuff compatible with it.



    Everyone refused. And I still don't know why. Now we have these Skype people who won't integrate Skype with anything…



    Ah, whatever.





    From Wikipedia:

    "In February 2004, AOL introduced AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) version 5.5 for Windows users, which enabled video, but not audio, chats over the AIM protocol and was compatible with Apple's iChat AV."



    So, not everyone refused.



    Skype announced within a week that they wanted to integrate FaceTime. Apple still haven't released the protocol though.
  • Reply 11 of 12
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DrDoppio View Post


    Skype announced within a week that they wanted to integrate FaceTime. Apple still haven't released the protocol though.



    Link?



    Microsoft has also purchased Skype in the interim. I imagine Apple might have reservations there.
  • Reply 12 of 12
    drdoppiodrdoppio Posts: 1,132member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Link?



    http://www.electronista.com/articles...e.as.standard/

    http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7...nt;contentBody



    Quote:

    Microsoft has also purchased Skype in the interim. I imagine Apple might have reservations there.



    Skype is not the issue here, FT as an open standard is.
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