DailyTech - AT&T Opens Up FaceTime to iOS Customers with Any Tiered Plan

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Gadgets AT&T Opens Up FaceTime to iOS Customers with Any Tiered Plan
Tiffany Kaiser - January 17, 2013 10:43 AM

3 comment(s) - last by CZroe.. on Jan 17 at 3:48 PM

(Source: donthatethegeek.com)

This applies to customers like those with an iPhone 4S and a tiered plan who want to make FaceTime calls over a cellular network

After realizing that it was the only U.S. carrier charging customers extra for FaceTime, AT&T has slowly expanded the service to more customers for free. That expansion continued this week.

AT&T's Mark Collins announced in the AT&T Consumer Blog that customers with any tiered data plan with a compatible iOS device can use FaceTime for no extra charge. This applies to customers like those with an iPhone 4S and a tiered plan who want to make FaceTime calls over a cellular network.

"We have already begun updating our systems and processes and expect to start rolling the update out to customers on an ongoing basis beginning in the next couple of weeks," wrote Collins. "Customers do not need to do anything—the update will be applied automatically over the next few months."

Back in August 2012, AT&T enabled FaceTime over 3G and 4G, but limited it to Mobile Share data plans. The company received plenty of criticism for this move, and even had threats of a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigation. AT&T said it didn't violate the FCC's two main rules: making business practices and information transparent, and not blocking applications that may compete with their own. AT&T later got a FCC net neutrality complaint.

This changed AT&T's tune real quick. In November, the carrier enabled FaceTime over Cellular for iOS 6 users on any tiered data plan for free. But the user was required to have an LTE device, and customers with grandfathered unlimited plans were still left out of the loop.

Later that same month, AT&T made FaceTime available to even more customers, including those with the iPhone 4S. This meant it was available for free to iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPad 3rd generation and higher users.

FaceTime has always been available to iPhone 4/4S/5 customers over a Wi-Fi network.

Verizon and Sprint, the only other main U.S. carriers that offer the iPhone other than AT&T, never charged extra for FaceTime over 3G or LTE networks.

Source: AT&T

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Not exactly

By woody1 on 1/17/2013 12:20:26 PM , Rating: 3

quote:
After realizing that it was the only U.S. carrier charging customers extra for FaceTime, AT&T has slowly expanded the service to more customers for free.

I would say that it's not that they realized that they were the only US carrier doing this; I imagine they already knew that. I think they changed the policy because they didn't like the negative publicity and the risk that people would get mad and go to another carrier.