Sprint to offer free FaceTime over wireless

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
While AT&T hasn't confirmed or denied whether it will be charging for the upcoming FaceTime over cellular iOS feature, Sprint says it will offer the service for free when the next-gen mobile OS launches this fall.

In a report regarding AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson's recent statements pertaining to a rumored fee for over-the-air video chat capabilities, The Wall Street Journal reported that a Sprint spokeswoman confirmed her carrier would be keeping with its unlimited model and is expected to offer the service free of charge.

The issue of charging for data used by FaceTime first arose on Tuesday when a iOS 6 beta error message was discovered which gave instructions on how "to enable FaceTime over cellular on this account.". Stephenson admitted that he too heard the rumor but claimed no official decision had been made either way, saying it's 'too early' to talk about such fees. The AT&T chief went on to say his company was working with Apple to iron out kinks in the system.

Sprint claims it has no plans to place pricing or data restrictions on FaceTime.

"We are committed to our unlimited data and that means not charging for data consumption based on the application," the Sprint spokeswoman said.

FaceTime
Source: Apple


Verizon, the nation's largest wireless carrier, has yet to comment on the issue but the company announced in May it would be terminating unlimited data plans as the network transitioned to 4G LTE.
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23


    Go Sprint!! Verizon and AT&T will look stupid now if they charge for it.

  • Reply 2 of 23
    dagamer34dagamer34 Posts: 494member


    Data is data. It shouldn't matter what you use it on, especially if it's limited with data caps.

  • Reply 3 of 23
    blackbookblackbook Posts: 1,361member
    Pretty sure Skype over 3G is free so this isn't really anything but PR to look good after ATT's embarrassments
  • Reply 4 of 23
    macvictamacvicta Posts: 346member


    Strange, a carrier that seems like they want your business rather than acting as if it's a burden to have you as a customer.

  • Reply 5 of 23
    emig647emig647 Posts: 2,455member


    ^--- Exactly. It is quite refreshing. I regret staying with AT&T with my 4s

     

  • Reply 6 of 23
    sergiozsergioz Posts: 338member


    I travel all through the US and I have used iPhone 4S on Sprint network. Sprint uses the oldest & slowest Revision A EVDO 3G technology, Sprint's service is horrible, what you get is unlimited dial up except few big city areas you will get up to ~1.5 mb down if you are lucky and standing next to a window or on the street. AT&T has one of the fastest most advance Wireless networks in the US and steadily improving it. There is a reason why Apple choose AT&T, first wireless carrier to carry their iPhone.

  • Reply 7 of 23
    BuffyzDeadBuffyzDead Posts: 356member


    WOW !!


    My family has 9 iPhone's and 5 iPads.


     


    We are all due for AT&T renewals this fall.


     


    If AT&T thinks charging us for Facetime use, is going to make us happy, are they clueless.


     


    I know I can convince my entire family to go to Sprint.


     


    I'll have to take a good look at Sprints family/sharing plans.


     


    EDIT:


    Well that post right above me just effed-up my hopes

  • Reply 8 of 23
    mac.worldmac.world Posts: 340member
    SPrint says everyone can have unlimited Facetime data use.

    What Sprint really means: no one will be able to use Facetime at our gawd-aweful 2G speeds, so it doesn't matter what we tell these morons, er customers. Maybe this will get us a few new suckers, er customers, for 2 years of crappy, er slow, service. Then we have have these idiots, er customers, suckered in, er locked in, for two years and we finally get a few cities with the slowest 4G speeds, we'll change our policy.
  • Reply 9 of 23
    bushman4bushman4 Posts: 858member


    Hopefully Sprint sets the tone foe ATT and Verizon, If not then theres join to be a lot of defections from ATT as well as Verizon to Sprint. 

  • Reply 10 of 23
    vadaniavadania Posts: 425member
    No wonder why their stock price has increased 40% since December. Keep going sprint! Bought 5k shares back then!

    Buck the trend and compete against the AT&T/Verizon duopoly!
  • Reply 11 of 23
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Good on them. I hope the others follow suit. I just wish it was one of the two largest carriers that initiated it because Sprint and T-Mobile exert less pressure in the market.
  • Reply 12 of 23
    snovasnova Posts: 1,281member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by dagamer34 View Post


    Data is data. It shouldn't matter what you use it on, especially if it's limited with data caps.



    you are right.. and with LTE  voice IS data..  yet with the new shared data plan give you unlimited voice but not data. 

  • Reply 13 of 23
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SergioZ View Post


    I travel all through the US and I have used iPhone 4S on Sprint network. Sprint uses the oldest & slowest Revision A EVDO 3G technology, Sprint's service is horrible, what you get is unlimited dial up except few big city areas you will get up to ~1.5 mb down if you are lucky and standing next to a window or on the street. AT&T has one of the fastest most advance Wireless networks in the US and steadily improving it. There is a reason why Apple choose AT&T, first wireless carrier to carry their iPhone.



     


     


    I disagree. Apple was never going to pick Sprint first unless it absolutely had to do so. Sprint's CEO even acknowledged Apple was just using a potential deal with Sprint to get a better deal from AT&T. To maximize profit, Apple wanted to release one phone worldwide. As such, Apple had to pick a US carrier operating on a GSM network since that is what most of the world used. That meant Apple really wanted to go with AT&T or T-Mobile. 


     


    People seem to forget, AT&T's data network sucked when the iPhone first came on board. Its voice services wasn't much better. Moreover, Verizon was the clear market leader in terms of subscribers. The iPhone, however, changed AT&T's fortunes by bringing 30 millions users to AT&T thereby giving it money to invest heavily in its Network. Had Sprint been Apple's first partner, Sprint would likely have obtained a lot more subscribers thereby allowing it to heavily invest in its network. 


     


    What will be interesting is what T-Mobile does when it gets the iPhone. T-Mobile's 3G network is faster than AT&T's and Verizon's. Its 4G network is also competitive. T-Mobile also has unlimited plans and its pricing is much better than everybody else. 

  • Reply 14 of 23
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by BUSHMAN4 View Post


    Hopefully Sprint sets the tone foe ATT and Verizon, If not then theres join to be a lot of defections from ATT as well as Verizon to Sprint. 



    I am holding out for t-Mobile, but I applaud Sprint.

  • Reply 15 of 23
    macosxpmacosxp Posts: 152member


    This is madness. Sprint is not "offering" the service no more than they are offering Skype video calls. Apple's app will take advantage of existing 3G data.

  • Reply 16 of 23
    vadaniavadania Posts: 425member
    macosxp wrote: »
    This is madness. Sprint is not "offering" the service no more than they are offering Skype video calls. Apple's app will take advantage of existing 3G data.

    Actually this is apparently another service that's going to have an associated fee, probably. If not directly, then indirectly, through the carriers. How is Apple's "app" going to take care of this?

    I seem to remember, short term memory, that apple keeps trying to work with carriers on this. They have to WORK with the carriers to allow this. Sprint is giving the 'go ahead' so to speak. Against the grain. So why is Sprints profit move "madness"?
  • Reply 17 of 23
    robogoborobogobo Posts: 378member
    Bravo!
  • Reply 18 of 23
    rtm135rtm135 Posts: 310member


    I never liked AT&T.  I will probably leave them for Sprint this fall after the new iPhone is released and if there's LTE in my area.

  • Reply 19 of 23


    If 

  • Reply 20 of 23


    If Sprint truly wants a piece of the pie, hopefully they have and will continue to invest in the infrastructure to deliver bandwidth to their current and future customers.  Otherwise, this is just lip service to give the illusion of choice when alternatives simply suck ass...

Sign In or Register to comment.