AT&T Pleads its Case in FaceTime- Over-3G Row

Maura · Aug 24, 2012

Wired posted a good article this week that provided an informative account of the current row about AT&T limiting 3G FaceTime availability on iOS devices to those users who are on AT&Ts new shared data plans. Following the earlier news that AT&T intended to restrict the availability of FaceTime in this way, and in particular restrict it to plans that are, by and large, more expensive, a spokeswoman for the carrier spoke out against the many critics of the plans, denying that AT&T was using FaceTime, a very popular iOS feature, as a premium feature, although Wired says that she did at least acknowledge that AT&T was using cellular FaceTime as a carrot to persuade customers to switch to one of its new tiered data-usage plans. Elsewhere, in a blog post, senior AT&T vice president Bob Quinn said that this controversial move by AT&T was not in breach of Federal Communications Commissions net-neutrality rules, which are designed to stop carriers blocking voice or video telephony apps that are competition for its own services, simply because FaceTime is pre-installed on iOS devices. Expect this one to run and run!

Thanks to Super Moderator Thomasjtsi for the heads-up on this story.

Source: AT&T: Holding FaceTime Hostage Is No Net-Neutrality Breach | Threat Level | Wired.com

Crxx · Aug 25, 2012

Correct me if I'm wrong. From what I understand, someone like myself with the older grandfathered plans (fully unlimited plan) would not be able to able to use FaceTime over 3G. Kinda like Siri was exclusive to our 4s?

Thomasjtsi · Aug 25, 2012

Crxx said:
Correct me if I'm wrong. From what I understand, someone like myself with the older grandfathered plans (fully unlimited plan) would not be able to able to use FaceTime over 3G. Kinda like Siri was exclusive to our 4s?

You're correct. From what the reports are saying... the FacetTime over 3G option will only be available if the end user is currently using a Shared Data plan. Good thing is... us JB'ers have been doing this since the relesae of the iPhone 4.

Rogue · Aug 25, 2012

Crxx said:
Correct me if I'm wrong. From what I understand, someone like myself with the older grandfathered plans (fully unlimited plan) would not be able to able to use FaceTime over 3G. Kinda like Siri was exclusive to our 4s?

U got it unless they cave however for me i seem to get more for the same price about wish i had that old grandfathered unlimited plan its nothing the good ole jailbreak community cant get around wait they already have

Rogue · Aug 25, 2012

Thomasjtsi said:
You're correct. From what the reports are saying... the FacetTime over 3G option will only be available if the end user is currently using a Shared Data plan. Good thing is... us JB'ers have been doing this since the relesae of the iPhone 4.

Lmao just woke up so did not see ur post i think i said just about the same thing (correction we posted at the same time u were a few seconds ahead of me

)

Thomasjtsi · Aug 25, 2012

Rogue said:
Lmao just woke up so did not see ur post i think i said just about the same thing

Eh.. no biggie. We posted them at pretty much the same time.

Crxx · Aug 25, 2012

Well if they expect me to give up my plan..... They can CANCEL CHRISTMAS! If nothing else when I get the iPhone5 in a few weeks,I'll wait for the jailbreak.

Rogue · Aug 25, 2012

Crxx said:
Well if they expect me to give up my plan..... They can CANCEL CHRISTMAS! If nothing else when I get the iPhone5 in a few weeks,I'll wait for the jailbreak.

I agree with you completely in situations like mine it helps me but in your case all it will do is limit you glad to see you have patience and it will pay off hopefully this gets overturned in time either way

dengirl · Aug 25, 2012

Maura said:
Wired posted a good article this week that provided an informative account of the current row about AT&T limiting 3G FaceTime availability on iOS devices to those users who are on AT&Ts new shared data plans. Following the earlier news that AT&T intended to restrict the availability of FaceTime in this way, and in particular restrict it to plans that are, by and large, more expensive, a spokeswoman for the carrier spoke out against the many critics of the plans, denying that AT&T was using FaceTime, a very popular iOS feature, as a premium feature, although Wired says that she did at least acknowledge that AT&T was using cellular FaceTime as a carrot to persuade customers to switch to one of its new tiered data-usage plans. Elsewhere, in a blog post, senior AT&T vice president Bob Quinn said that this controversial move by AT&T was not in breach of Federal Communications Commissions net-neutrality rules, which are designed to stop carriers blocking voice or video telephony apps that are competition for its own services, simply because FaceTime is pre-installed on iOS devices. Expect this one to run and run!

Thanks to Super Moderator Thomasjtsi for the heads-up on this story.

Source: AT&T: Holding FaceTime Hostage Is No Net-Neutrality Breach | Threat Level | Wired.com

I rarely use the face talk but if I did ... So what is the reason of them wanting to limit the users?

wingzfan61 · Aug 25, 2012

dengirl said:
I rarely use the face talk but if I did ... So what is the reason of them wanting to limit the users?

To get as many people off unlimited plans as possible. Personally I think what verizon did is WAY worse than this. Kicking you off your plan if you upgrade phones unless you buy them outright is downright obnoxious.

For some people, myself included, who joined at&t after the unlimited plans were cancelled these new plans save me a bunch of money, about 20% to be exact. However for others on a single plan and some family plans it costs more. I happen to love the new plans but couldnt care less about facetime. I used it once to test the 3g-unrestrictor tweak and havent used it since.

This is no different than when I had at&t before cingular came in and they cancelled my unlimited $99 plan or when sprint decided to charge everyone for 4g access when it was only available to 5% of the nation.

I will say this though, when t-mobile gets their network running the new spectrum and the iphone can achieve 3g/lte speeds Ill be hopping on that truely unlimited data plan.