Facetime, WiFi and # of bars question

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Level 1

30 points

Facetime, WiFi and # of bars question

A friend lives in the sticks and has a cable connection for internet and very, very poor wireless coverage.

(So poor that when she called AT&T to discuss if this might change in the future, the service rep said she shouldn't have any service at all where she lives. She'll take the low bars when she should have no bars. But I digress...)

We tried FaceTime yesterday and it worked only so-so.

Here's my question: when a voice call is switched to video chat, is the call actually jumping from the phone service to the wifi network? And if this is so, then shouldn't the reception be phenomenal via Facetime? Isn't the AT&T network (and the no/low bars) being removed from the equation?

Thanks for any feedback on this.

Posted on Jul 14, 2010 3:44 PM

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Answer 1

w7ox

Level 4

2,407 points

Jul 14, 2010 3:48 PM in response to iPhD

You don't need cell to do Face Time, just wifi.

Go to contacts list and select Face Time for that contact.

For cell, think about MicroCell.

Phil

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Answer 2

red555

Level 4

2,581 points

Jul 14, 2010 3:49 PM in response to iPhD

Yes. It is all wifi once you switch to facetime.
If both parties have good wifi data up/dowload speeds, it should be a good connection.

And now that you've made initial contact, you can call over facetime to them without using the 3g-cell call first.

When you say poor wireless in the first sentence, you mean cell, right?

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Answer 3

Jul 14, 2010 3:50 PM in response to iPhD

Here's my question: when a voice call is switched to video chat, is the call actually jumping from the phone service to the wifi network?

Yes.

And if this is so, then shouldn't the reception be phenomenal via Facetime?

Depending on the internet connection the wi-fi network is connected to, yes. Depending on the time of day when I do a speed test for my internet connection, it can fluctuate. Does she have DSL or Cable modem service? DSL is a slower connection.

You were on a regular call and then switched to FaceTime? If so, try selecting FaceTime to initiate the FaceTime call instead to see if this makes any difference.

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Answer 4

iPhD Author

Level 1

30 points

Jul 14, 2010 3:57 PM in response to iPhD

Thank you all for the feedback.

Yes, I meant that her cell phone coverage is poor when I said wireless.

I'm not sure about the DSL vs. cable for internet connection at her end. I learned that at my end I should shut down bandwidth sucking apps on the desktop Mac before jumping to Facetime.

I will definitely choose Facetime as the default in the Contact list. (I feel like a dolt for not figuring that one out.)

Thanks again.

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