DailyTech - FaceTime Video Chat Still Doesn't Work on New iPad's 4G LTE Network

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Gadgets FaceTime Video Chat Still Doesn't Work on New iPad's 4G LTE Network
Tiffany Kaiser - March 15, 2012 11:31 AM

21 comment(s) - last by TakinYourPoint.. on Mar 16 at 7:41 PM

(Source: ac1dsn0w.net)

When attempting to make a FaceTime call, a message pops up saying, "FaceTime Failed: Connect to a Wi-Fi network to use FaceTime"

The new iPad has been taking over the gadget world since its announcement earlier this month, and now that the reviews are rolling in, some are finding that it's not all that it's cracked up to be.

The Verge recently reported that FaceTime video chat is not working on the 4G network for the iPad. When attempting to make a FaceTime call, a message pops up saying, "FaceTime Failed: Connect to a Wi-Fi network to use FaceTime."

While this seems to be a typical issue for 3G devices, The Verge says Verizon's 4G LTE network offers Wi-Fi hotspot availability. This means a user could locate a Wi-Fi hotspot from their iPad to make a FaceTime call using their iPhone, but just using the iPad as a Wi-Fi hotspot could accumulate as much data as a FaceTime call.

This is a bit disappointing, since LTE would likely provide crisp, clear FaceTime calls. But Apple apparently hasn't found a way to bring the two together.

"Sure, there might be some latency issues with LTE over Wi-Fi, but, come on, throw us a bone," said 9 to 5 Mac. "We had a fine time using FaceTime over 3G almost two years ago."

Despite this hiccup, the iPad seems to be doing well for itself. Earlier this week, Apple announced that iPad pre-orders had sold out and that shipments could be delayed up to three weeks.

The iPad features a 2048x1536 resolution, 9.7-inch display, the A5X processor with a dual-core CPU and quad-core GPU, a rear-facing 5 MP iSight camera, LTE radio and 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB options. There's a Wi-Fi only version and a 4G LTE compatible version that runs on Verizon and AT&T 4G networks.

The new iPad launches tomorrow for $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB), and $699 (64GB).

Source: The Verge

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Carriers?

By ltcommanderdata on 3/15/2012 12:34:19 PM , Rating: 1

I wonder if this is less of a technical limitation than one of carrier contracts/negotiations?

RE: Carriers?

By quiksilvr on 3/15/2012 1:50:22 PM , Rating: 2

Skype works fine over 3G/WiFi, so there's really no reason why this doesn't work.

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RE: Carriers?

By BSMonitor on 3/15/2012 1:54:35 PM , Rating: 2

Of course this is AT&T and Verizon. Are you kidding?

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RE: Carriers?

By lightfoot on 3/15/2012 2:16:23 PM , Rating: 5

But similar services are available on other devices on those same networks. This is 100% Apple. A company known as much for what their devices don't do as for what they do.

Think different.

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RE: Carriers?

By TakinYourPoints on 3/15/2012 6:30:12 PM , Rating: 2

Users of those other devices aren't like locusts that feed on bandwidth: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Release...

Even with a smaller share in September (these figures are pre-iPhone 4S and pre-iPad 3), iOS users accounted for almost 2/3 of mobile traffic. Apple also said back in 2010 that they were working with carriers towards getting Facetime over 3G by 2011. It is 2012 and it still hasn't happened yet.

It's the carriers freaking out over their already strained networks getting destroyed.

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RE: Carriers?

By TakinYourPoints on 3/15/2012 6:35:12 PM , Rating: 2

An important thing to note is that unlike Skype, which does work over 3G/LTE, Facetime is totally integrated into iOS, is a major advertised feature of the iDevices, and is so easy to use even your grandma can do it.

Carriers know there's a big difference in bandwidth between allowing existing video chat software on their networks and allowing Facetime.

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RE: Carriers?

By lightfoot on 3/15/2012 7:35:23 PM , Rating: 2

You seem okay with being treated as a second class citizen just because you use an iDevice.

Skype, Tango, Qik etc all serve basically the same function as Facetime. Why are Apple users prevented from doing the same thing others do every single day?

Might it be because only Apple colludes with the carriers to prevent their users from using the service that they are already paying for?

Make no mistake, it is Apple that is screwing you, no matter who asked Apple to do it.

Data is data is data, you pay to use it. It shouldn't matter what you use it for.

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RE: Carriers?

By TakinYourPoints on 3/16/2012 5:13:16 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
Skype, Tango, Qik etc all serve basically the same function as Facetime. Why are Apple users prevented from doing the same thing others do every single day?

Skype, Tango, Qik, and other video chat software are available on iPhone/iPad, and they all work over 3G/LTE on iOS. It isn't Apple that is blocking Facetime over cell networks, they have very publicly wanted Facetime over 3G since the beginning.

Again, it is the carriers. A small percentage of iOS users video chatting on Skype and an even smaller percentage of Android users doing the same is nothing to them. A huge number of iPhone users with fully integrated and easy to use Facetime (no secondary app to launch and it is the same process as making a normal phone call) is something that terrifies carriers.

Data is data, certainly, but what matters is how much is being used. iOS users already strain cell carriers as it is, making up roughly double the internet traffic that Android does. Facetime over 3G/LTE is likely something carriers feel would put it over the top, at least until they feel that they have expanded their networks enough to handle the additional load.

These are not hard concepts to understand.

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RE: Carriers?

By Reclaimer77 on 3/16/2012 12:05:48 PM , Rating: 2

Spectrum isn't like optical broadband. You can't simply keep "building out" wireless spectrum. There is a finite amount of it the carrier have to work with. And once it's used up, that's it.

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RE: Carriers?

By TakinYourPoints on 3/16/2012 5:29:27 AM , Rating: 2

To make things absolutely clear, two scenarios.

1) No Facetime - Business as usual for carriers, building out their network as quickly as they can, barely keeping up with the demands of their existing customers, let alone new ones.

2) Facetime - 150+ million Facetime capable devices can use 3G and video calls no longer require an external app and chat network. It is now as easy as making a simple phone call. Even a just an overnight 30% sustained increase in data traffic would be a huge headache for carriers.

Again, it isn't brain surgery why carriers have blocked Facetime over their networks for so long, they just don't want it. It makes zero logical sense for Apple to limit that functionality to wifi, especially given the fact that they talked about it getting Facetime on 3G the day it was introduced with the iPhone 4.

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RE: Carriers?

By TakinYourPoints on 3/16/2012 7:41:37 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
Data is data is data, you pay to use it. It shouldn't matter what you use it for.

It shouldn't, but it does, and the carriers are 100% to blame for things like per-device data plans and device specific application restrictions like we're seeing with Facetime.

The Verge has an excellent editorial on this: http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/15/2876459/shared-c...

quote:
Take FaceTime, for example, which doesn't work on the iPad over LTE. You know what works just fine? Two iPads, with one piggybacking off the other's LTE mobile hotspot. Or an iPad tethered to an LTE smartphone. Or a portable hotspot like an LTE MiFi, which can serve other devices as well. (Or Skype.) Remember the PS Vita’s 3G model, which can't play online games over cellular? Hook it up to an LTE hotspot in an area with good connectivity, and you'll have no such trouble. But on the flip side, if you don't pay for that integrated 3G plan and your hotspot dies on the road, your Vita won't get so much as a status update and your iPad won't even be able to check important email.

To Verizon or AT&T, it's the same exact data, and to you it's a perfectly crisp, smooth video call out in the field or a game on the go, with no need to bump elbows at a local Starbucks or stay at home. But because our cellular carriers have realized that they can charge us extra for each individual device we connect to their network, cap mobile downloads, and influence software providers not to place strain on the network, you end up paying more for less and enduring arbitrary restrictions when you buy devices with integrated cellular.

If you know where I'm going with this argument, chances are you've heard it before: the FaceTime issue underscores a massive debate about net neutrality that's been going on for a long while. If carriers acted like dumb pipes for the data they transport — as they more or less do when you use a mobile hotspot, which is almost indistinguishable from Wi-Fi as far as your device is concerned — then, the argument goes, you'd just pay for the data you use, regardless of what content that data carries or the path it takes to get to your tablet or handheld. The counterargument is typically that carriers need to manage their network, lest it get overwhelmed by the traffic of millions of additional FaceTime users and the like. Still, that's easily solved: simply charge for the actual amount of data actually used — basic supply and demand — and let users throttle themselves.

First it was a debate over tethering (which the carriers won), now it is this. Hopefully they catch on, I would love to have a data plan that covers multiple devices, not to mention having them lift high-bandwidth app restrictions on popular devices, but I'm not holding my breath.

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RE: Carriers?

By TakinYourPoints on 3/15/2012 2:17:39 PM , Rating: 2

Of course it is coming from the carriers, they're terrified that already data hungry iOS users will destroy their networks with Facetime over 3G or LTE. When the iPhone 4 was introduced in 2010 Apple said they hoped to get Facetime on cell networks by 2011. Obviously the carriers are still balking.

The funny thing is that you can totally use it with an iPad tethered to an iPhone or vice versa. Ridiculous.

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RE: Carriers?

By CharonPDX on 3/16/2012 6:10:26 PM , Rating: 2

Considering a jailbroken iPhone 4 can FaceTime over 3G just fine, yeah, it's carrier not technical.

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By Lord 666 on 3/15/2012 3:41:25 PM , Rating: 2

I've used Facetime with a VZW 3G mifi. Sure it wasn't the best, but it worked. With my 4G mifi, I can't tell the difference from FiOS.

WTF?

RE: BS

By Solandri on 3/15/2012 7:30:01 PM , Rating: 2

mifi creates a personal 3G/4G hotspot which communicates over your Internet connection, not Verizon's wireless network. If it works on your mifi but not over Verizon's regular 4G network, then that's pretty solid evidence that it's Verizon which is blocking it.

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RE: BS

By Lord 666 on 3/15/2012 9:56:13 PM , Rating: 2

Re-read my post where I clearly say VZW.

The 3g mifi I used was my Verizon Wireless BB 9850 Torch in hotspot mode and on a moving train. Tell me how I was using anything other than the cell radio? The 4g mifi was the original VZW jetpack.

Don't doubt the carriers are blocking it, but its at the software of the phone not the network.

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It's a feature

By CBRworm on 3/15/2012 1:52:45 PM , Rating: 2

I'm pretty sure that is a feature to keep cell data use down. Is this the same on both carriers?

RE: It's a feature

By lightfoot on 3/15/2012 2:18:31 PM , Rating: 3

But if the same "feature" were present on an Android or Windows phone you would consider it a "defect."

Funny how that works.

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Maybe They Forgot to Purchase the Video Conferencing Ultra Package...

By Arsynic on 3/15/2012 1:55:13 PM , Rating: 2

The Video Conferences Ultra Package gives you 500 hours of video chat for $49.95 per month. This is only possible with the power of Verizon's blazing-fast 4G LTE.

Not Surprised

By Aikouka on 3/15/2012 2:06:01 PM , Rating: 2

I really can't say that I'm surprised. Nothing that they mentioned in the presentation said that they were removing the limitations that are placed on cellular data use. I found one of those "Look how fast you'll use up your bandwidth cap!" articles amusing, because it suggested that you would be able to download one of the large apps (1GB+) over LTE. The thing is... right now, you're restricted to 20MB over a cellular connection.