Activating FaceTime on an Unlocked iPhone 4 on T-Mobile

Try Apple support or your carrier.

If you are using your unlocked phone with T-Mobile in the US, Facetime will not work. There are threads detailing this on this forum.

Facetime can only be used on wi-fi, so why would the carrier matter? Not doubting you, just curious why this would be an issue since you can use it with the cellular radio off entirely.

It has to do with the way T-Mobile implements SMS, which is used to establish the connection between devices, then switch to WiFi for the actual conversation. I don't have all the details, but it's been proven time and time again. T-Mobile's U.S. network (unlike their network in Europe) does not play nice with Face Time.

Well, ChrisMacg, there are many threads with users of an unlocked iPhone on the T-Mobile network in the US who would beg to differ with you.

Just sayin'....

I work for T-Mobile, and Facetime does not work on our network (yet). Rumor has it we're getting it in September, but we'll have to wait and see. Btw, I'm just a tech rep, and I'm speaking for myself and not T-Mobile.

Hey man chill, now that iOS5 is announced there is going to be a function to use FaceTime via email and not the carrier (just like iPod touch) so wait a little 😉

wow... sending data packets for streaming video via e-mail is gonna be really slow... :-/

it's just the handshaking between the devices to setup the connection... not the actual streamed data.

I realize that... it was a joke... I know... don't quit my day job.

Saying that many people have the same problem so you should just accept it is the wrong answer.

While it is correct that users who have bought an unlocked iPhone 4 from another country and then used their iPhone on T-Mobile's USA network have not been able to activate FaceTime, the current situation is that Apple now does sell the unlocked iPhone 4 in the USA, and the unlocked iPhone 4 is clearly advertised as having the FaceTime functionality.

I will preface this by saying I've been using Apple computers since the early 1980s, and I'm a big fan of Apple and their products...

Either this is just an oversight, or right now the advertising for the unlocked iPhone 4 is deceptive as regards availabilty of the FaceTime functionality; I cannot find any clear statement in the information about the iPhone 4 or FaceTime on the Apple Store website that FaceTime only works on "supported" (ie. AT&T) GSM services.

From reading up on the various solutions the jailbreakers have come up with, it is pretty clear that the main problem is that the "Unknown carrier" configuration bundle that the iPhone 4 uses when on the US T-Mobile is misconfigured. During the activation process, the iPhone 4 sends an SMS to a special number which talks to Apple's FaceTime servers and then a reply SMS is sent back which activates FaceTime on the phone. Using the Unknown carrier bundle, the initial SMS message goes to a number in the UK which can't respond correctly, or does not get transmitted at all. FaceTime activation simply never happens.

The solution is for either Apple or T-Mobile USA to set up (I suspect most likely more of this is on Apple's end than the carrier's) the SMS number for FaceTime activation, and for Apple to provide a properly configured carrier bundle in a software update for the iPhone (this part is trivial for them).

Failing that, Apple should alter the sales description of the FaceTime functionality on their store website to correctly reflect that FaceTime only works in the USA on the AT&T network. As it stands right now the advertising is deceptive.

How is that deceptive? The phone does have FaceTime functionality... That's not to say that all carriers support that functionality, and, there's nothing to indicate as such on any ads, and, at the time of it's release, it was pretty common knowledge that AT&T was the only supported provider at the time, and FaceTime works perfectly on AT&T's network. All networks sell phone first (non-smartphone) handsets as well as smartphones that advertise MMS functionality, yet, if you buy an AT&T handset and unlock it, take it ti T-Mobile, the MMS functionality (along with all data services) are broken and don't work until you reprogram the phone with the proper APN & MMSC server configuration information. Does that mean that AT&T should state that if you take the phone to another network, those functions will not work? Of course not. As a matter of fact, when it comes to GSM handsets, the only guaranteed functionality (without modification of some sort) is voice calling and SMS functionality.

The fact that Apple is now selling fully unlocked phones is because with the exclusivity deal over, Apple is free to sell the phone for use on other networks. There's 2 major networks that don't officially carry the iPhone now, Sprint & T-Mobile. The rumor is that when the next gen iPhone comes out (likely in September), is that it will be released on all 4 major networks, and, you can bet that when that happens, FaceTime will be supported just as it is currently at AT&T & Verizon.

T-Mobile is not a supported carrier. If they will help you, good on them. Apple is under no obligation to jury rig their phones to work 100% on T-Mobile. Why should they bother.

What you think or believe does not change reality. Just deal with it. If you don't like it, go get a droid.

The problem is, this is how Apple advertises the iPhone 4's FaceTime functionality:

Video calling with FaceTime.

FaceTime on iPhone 4 makes it possible to have video calls with friends and family across the globe — perfect for sign-language conversations. It works iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 over Wi-Fi, and it requires no setup or special accounts...

Well, it does require setup, and right now it requires an AT&T account.

The fact that Apple is now selling fully unlocked phones is because with the exclusivity deal over, Apple is free to sell the phone for use on other networks.

That's great, however they are advertising that all the features work. They don't say that only some features may work and not others if you use an "unsupported" carrier. I can go to any phone store in Europe and some in the USA, buy an unlocked Nokia phone, put any GSM SIM card (with a data plan) into it, and all the features will work including video calling. I've done it myself for some of my coworkers who travel overseas. Why would anyone expect anything else from the company that makes the best products?

A feature like Visual Voicemail that requires close integration with the carrier's systems is pretty obviously not going to work on a carrier that doesn't support it (such as T-Mobile). That Visual Voicemail won't work on T-Mobile USA is a reasonable expectation.

The difference is that FaceTime does not require any integration with the carrier's systems at all. The fact that you can only activate FaceTime on an iPhone 4 with a "supported carrier" is at best an oversight or a bug. At worst it is a feature that is being held back for some marketing reason - this is not how Apple usually operates. Look at Apple's other products that support FaceTime with no GSM or 3G connection (iPod Touch, wifi-only iPad 2, the Mac FaceTime App).

FaceTime doesn't use the GSM (or CDMA) 3G connection other than for the initial activation on the iPhone 4 - FaceTime calls use only wifi, and the wireless carrier's connection is not technically necessary for activating FaceTime - I've set up FaceTime on a few Macs and they certainly don't have 3G connections. Apple is using the SMS activation method as a shortcut to tie the iPhone 4's phone number to the FaceTime account. Since the iOS software already knows the iPhone's number, this is an unnecessary requirement - the iPhone's phone number could just as easily be transmitted to Apple's FaceTime servers over a wifi connection.

Apple could roll out a software update that would allow the iPhone 4 to use the same activation method the wifi-only iPad 2, iPod Touch, or the Mac FaceTime client use. The software already exists to support this activation method on iOS (on the wifi-only iPad 2 and iPod Touch), all they'd have to do is turn it on in the iPhone 4. This is a trivial task for Apple.

Right now, activation of FaceTime is better supported on the iPod Touch than on the iPhone 4. The iPhone 4 is Apple's flagship mobile product. Shouldn't it work at least as well as the iPod?

The advertising for the iPhone 4 does indeed say it works on "any supported GSM carrier", however there is no mention of which carriers are supported (I just looked through all the info on the store.apple.com again this morning) - since Apple is now selling these devices unlocked in the USA, there should be an asterisk and a footnote that says "AT&T is the only US carrier on which all iPhone 4 features are supported". What's so hard about that?

I'm not asking for anything difficult or complicated, and certainly not any kind of "jury rig". The iOS software to support activation of FaceTime on any carrier (or indeed without a 3G connection at all) exists and is already deployed in the iPad 2 and iPod Touch. Failing that, a footnote detailing which carrier(s) are supported seems like a pretty minor request also, and would help other potential customers decide if the iPhone 4 is for them or not.

I'm not going to respond to the "get a droid" comment other than to say that it is an unhelpful comment and that it adds nothing to the discussion. The reality is that Apple can support FaceTime activation without an AT&T or Verizon connection. The reality is also that they do not and that there is no technical reason for this to be the case. We are all here because we love Apple's products, we think they are the best ones on the market and we want them to "just work", as Apple products usually do. If you have nothing positive to add to the discussion, please don't.