Using FaceTime internationally

My guess is that ATT might not want people to use it as a long distance service without charging people. I look at FaceTime like Skype in that Skype will eventually charge users to make Skype to Skype calls over the 3G network. I bet Skype is working with ATT on a billing plan for that. I'm sure ATT (and Apple) will eventually find a way to charge for this service as well. You just need to get enough people hooked on it so they rely on it so much that they can't do without it (i.e., tethering, Skype, etc) and then hit customers in the wallet.

It should work.

Any carrier when dealing with FaceTime is only there to initiate the call, and confirm that they are connecting to another iPhone 4, then the internet connection takes over to handle the video.

I'm having similar trouble. My friend and I are traveling across Europe and we can't even FaceTime each other while in the same room, on the same wifi network. At first I thought it could be router issues, so we used a fast connection on an AirPort Extreme to no avail.

Any ideas? We have our phones in Airplane Mode with wifi turned on, but turning Airplane Mode off doesn't help either. We get one FaceTime ring, then two beeps and "FaceTime Failed..."

As far as I've read we don't need a carrier to initiate FaceTime, so AT&T, etc., shouldn't have anything to do with this. Wifi should be just fine. I read somewhere that your first FaceTime call needed to be initiated over cellular, but we've both had success with FaceTime in the US, just not in Europe.

Thanks in advance for your help!

BREAKTHROUGH!

I got FaceTime to work after switching OFF Airplane Mode and waiting for a carrier to show up. Then, viola! It just worked. This shouldn't be the case though, it should work fine in Airplane Mode. I'm filing this as a bug.

The call is initially created through the telephone network, and then transferred to wifi.

It will not work without the 3g portion, and therefore not with airplane mode.

The telephone call is required to find the other phone's IP address.

nikulr wrote:
The iPhone 4 was bought in the UK, and does not make any difference on who the provider is. You don't even need to make a call to get FaceTime. This is what makes this weird.

*WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG. WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG.*

You sir, are wrong. An initial call is necessary to establish the necessary information to connect the facetime call. If there is a problem with the international call; it will fail.

How do you suppose that your phone magically knows the IP address of someone else's phone?

While the initial FaceTime call between two iPhone 4s may require cellular initiation, subsequent FaceTime calls between those two iPhone 4s do not provided they have not changed their network settings (i.e. IP address)

Yes, after an initial phone call to my son's iPhone which was continued after a switch to FaceTime, we were later able to directly connect via FaceTime over wifi when he was in a remote location that had no mobile phone service, but which had an Airport network originating from a satellite internet connection.

Has anyone been able to connect internationally via FaceTime between two US activated iPhones that have already established that initial FaceTime chat between them in the US? That is, when my son goes to France, will we be able to initiate FaceTime without an associated phone call?

well, I live in mexico city and today i was chatting with my cousin in toronto using face time, we didn't know if we were being charged for the international cal so we both turned "airplane mode" on and just left the wireless connection up and we were able to use face time internationally, so yes, face time works internationally without the cellular network

You guys do realize you can make a FT call without using the phone, right? You don't even need cellular signal to make a FT call either.

If the person is in your Contact list, scroll down to the bottom of their entry and click "FaceTime" to initiate the call.