AT&T to bring FaceTime over cellular to all customers by end of year

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
AT&T has announced that all mobile video chat applications, including Apple's FaceTime, will work over its cellular network by the end of this year.

facetime


"Throughout the second half of this year, we plan to enable pre-loaded video chat apps over cellular for all our customers, regardless of data plan or device," AT&T confirmed to The Verge on Monday. "That work is expected to be complete by year end."

The policy shift will enable video chat programs such as Apple's FaceTime for iOS devices and Google's new Hangouts app for Android and iOS.

FaceTime over cellular initially debuted with the arrival of iOS 6, but AT&T limited the feature to customers that had switched over to a Mobile Share plan, as well as those with an LTE device like an iPhone 5 or the latest iPad on a tiered plan. That decision led to no small amount of trouble for the carrier, with AT&T eventually compelled to defend itself, claiming that it was not violating Net Neutrality regulations by blocking FaceTime.

AT&T began expanding access to FaceTime over cellular in November of last year. That shift initially included a few users who had grandfathered unlimited data plans, but the carrier eventually limited it to those with tiered data plans.

Beginning in June, AT&T will allow unlimited users with LTE devices to access FaceTime over cellular. By the end of the year, all customers should be able to use Apple's and other similar video chat applications.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 19
    stephanjobsstephanjobs Posts: 284member
    Oh wow...

    Just in time for me to really not give a s*** anymore.

    Well at least we can put this debate to rest.
  • Reply 2 of 19
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,402member


    Rivals the news of the arrival of The Beatles on iTunes.....


     


    ????

  • Reply 3 of 19
    icoco3icoco3 Posts: 1,474member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by StephanJobs View Post



    Oh wow...



    Just in time for me to really not give a s*** anymore.



    Well at least we can put this debate to rest.


     


    Maybe enough people switched to the shared data plan, self included, where it won't hurt so much letting unlimited data users have access.

  • Reply 4 of 19
    r00fusr00fus Posts: 245member
    Meanwhile, I have facetime on TMO right now. Tried it outside my house which was always a horrible mobile experience on ATT and it was almost as good as wifi.

    Given the prices I was paying on ATT vs. TMO, I am surprised anyone sticks around (I'm paying about half what I did on ATT and no overages) - the "unlimited" soft cap at 3GB is only 500MB more than my current TMO plan, and I have tethering to boot, all for a lower price and just as good data coverage.

    If your area has good TMO, I'd switch. Why wait to get what others have right now? I'm sure ATT will kneecap the next big Apple feature just like they did with Facetime.
  • Reply 5 of 19
    BuffyzDeadBuffyzDead Posts: 355member


    I have to say, I love my grandfathered, unlimited data plan (~$82.00/Month) with AT&T.


     


    Just this past Monday, a week ago, LTE went live in my area too, on my iPhone 5.


     


    And about 6 months ago, I exceed the 5GB tier, where i received an SMS text from AT&T, that I was going to get throttled down.


     


    ....well, it never happened. for the last 5 months, I'm "averaging 10GB per month, without any throttle-down  whatsoever


     


    .. Just now I checked, and I'm at 9GB with 6 days to go in my monthly cyle


    .....I just did a speed test on my iPhone 5 with LTE


     


    44.30 Mbps Down and 12.52 Mbps up     ...Jersey Shore area


     


     


    My Point, things are still looking up and my plan is killer (relative to the US, of course)

  • Reply 6 of 19
    curtis hannahcurtis hannah Posts: 1,832member
    Haven't they annocned this before? Must have delayed it.
  • Reply 7 of 19
    Wait.. I'm grandfathered in and I just checked mine and its turned on.. Thank you att
  • Reply 8 of 19

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by BuffyzDead View Post


    I have to say, I love my grandfathered, unlimited data plan (~$82.00/Month) with AT&T.


     


    Just this past Monday, a week ago, LTE went live in my area too, on my iPhone 5.


     


    And about 6 months ago, I exceed the 5GB tier, where i received an SMS text from AT&T, that I was going to get throttled down.


     


    ....well, it never happened. for the last 5 months, I'm "averaging 10GB per month, without any throttle-down  whatsoever


     


    .. Just now I checked, and I'm at 9GB with 6 days to go in my monthly cyle


    .....I just did a speed test on my iPhone 5 with LTE


     


    44.30 Mbps Down and 12.52 Mbps up     ...Jersey Shore area


     


     


    My Point, things are still looking up and my plan is killer (relative to the US, of course)



     


    Ditto. I just used Skype in the meantime, but so far I find, overall, little to complain about about AT&T grandfathered LTE. When I upgrade to the 5S/6/whatever, I'll give my wife my 5 and she'll get grandfathered LTE too. 

  • Reply 9 of 19
    hawkbladehawkblade Posts: 76member


    I've heard this one before.  I mean FT was not enough for me to to drop my grandfathered unlimited.  And was not about to pay more for something I would never/rarely use.  So if they do activate, goodie, if not, i'll wait for them to announce the unlimited FT "release" for the third time.  I looked at even switching carrier's in the US and I be paying more or same at another, so why switch... 


     


    So, if they activate, goodie goodie... if not.  I have my iMac at home that does it...  Or worse case, Skype it.

  • Reply 10 of 19
    lord amhranlord amhran Posts: 902member
    That's generous of them.

    /s
  • Reply 11 of 19
    jd_in_sbjd_in_sb Posts: 1,600member


    How nice of them to stop blocking their paying customers from using basic features of the iPhone.They deserve a medal. /s

  • Reply 12 of 19
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member


    Too late.. already left to Verizon.

  • Reply 13 of 19
    christophbchristophb Posts: 1,482member
    Just checked mine and it's turned up. Now waiting for Hotspot.

    Special thanks for all those that left AT&T. Perhaps that helped change the mindset.
  • Reply 14 of 19
    The best thing that ever happened while on unlimited grandfathered plan with my iPad mini on AT&T. The Facetime on cellular is now turned on. Now I can give up the extra third party data plan that I purchased few months ago just so I could use Facetime on my iPad.
  • Reply 15 of 19
    chabigchabig Posts: 641member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Jaybyrd76 View Post



    Wait.. I'm grandfathered in and I just checked mine and its turned on.. Thank you att


    Mine's already on too. It started about two weeks ago.

  • Reply 16 of 19
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by BuffyzDead View Post


    I have to say, I love my grandfathered, unlimited data plan (~$82.00/Month) with AT&T.


     


    Just this past Monday, a week ago, LTE went live in my area too, on my iPhone 5.


     


    And about 6 months ago, I exceed the 5GB tier, where i received an SMS text from AT&T, that I was going to get throttled down.


     


    ....well, it never happened. for the last 5 months, I'm "averaging 10GB per month, without any throttle-down  whatsoever


     


    .. Just now I checked, and I'm at 9GB with 6 days to go in my monthly cyle


    .....I just did a speed test on my iPhone 5 with LTE


     


    44.30 Mbps Down and 12.52 Mbps up     ...Jersey Shore area


     


     


    My Point, things are still looking up and my plan is killer (relative to the US, of course)



     


     


    Well are you not cool? Brag about a plan nobody else in the world can sign up for. 

  • Reply 17 of 19
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by r00fus View Post



    Meanwhile, I have facetime on TMO right now. Tried it outside my house which was always a horrible mobile experience on ATT and it was almost as good as wifi.



    Given the prices I was paying on ATT vs. TMO, I am surprised anyone sticks around (I'm paying about half what I did on ATT and no overages) - the "unlimited" soft cap at 3GB is only 500MB more than my current TMO plan, and I have tethering to boot, all for a lower price and just as good data coverage.



    If your area has good TMO, I'd switch. Why wait to get what others have right now? I'm sure ATT will kneecap the next big Apple feature just like they did with Facetime.


     


     


    T-Mobile is great in Ann Arbor Michigan. I am averaging over 24 Mbs a second download speeds. Way better than wi-fi

  • Reply 18 of 19


    Been there, been doing that for quite a while already on my €19.95 a month unlimited LTE data plan... Another snooze worthy AI story...

  • Reply 19 of 19
    libertyforalllibertyforall Posts: 1,418member


    Simply no excuse for this to take so long!  Penalize early adopters who had the first iPhone -- way to impress customers AT&T.  :(  


     


    Keeps the incentive to jailbreak = dumb move by an out of touch telecommunication company -- AT&T.  Same story with Hotspot being locked from customers -- when is THAT going to change?!  Been around even longer than FaceTime...  


     


    Happily there are more carriers like T-Mobile these days w/full iPhone access...  

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