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The iPad user guide explains how to make a call for Facetime:
"Call a contact: Tap Contacts, choose a name, then tap the phone number or email address the person uses for FaceTime."
But I'm not sure which my recipients should use--phone number or email. Can Facetime connect through either one?
It depends upon the device that they are on - from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4319
To call someone using FaceTime, you need their phone number or email address. Which one you use is determined by the device you are calling:
- When calling someone using an iPhone 4 or later: Try the phone number of the person you are calling first. If the person has registered an email with FaceTime, you can use that as well.
- When calling someone using an iPad 2, iPod touch, or FaceTime for Mac: Use the email address designated for FaceTime of the person you are calling.
On iPad 2, iPod touch, and FaceTime for Mac, you need to add a person as a contact using the FaceTime or Contacts app before you can call them.
It depends upon the device that they are on - from http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4319
To call someone using FaceTime, you need their phone number or email address. Which one you use is determined by the device you are calling:
- When calling someone using an iPhone 4 or later: Try the phone number of the person you are calling first. If the person has registered an email with FaceTime, you can use that as well.
- When calling someone using an iPad 2, iPod touch, or FaceTime for Mac: Use the email address designated for FaceTime of the person you are calling.
On iPad 2, iPod touch, and FaceTime for Mac, you need to add a person as a contact using the FaceTime or Contacts app before you can call them.
Thanks. I want to call from my iPad 2 to someone with an iPhone 4. That support doc says that I should try the phone number first but if the person has registered an email with FaceTime, I can use that as well. Hmm... so I can use either?
It sounds like the phone number is better when I'm calling her, but it doesn't really explain much about why I would choose one or the other (what the advantages are, etc.)
Thanks.
rick7 wrote:
Thanks. I want to call from my iPad 2 to someone with an iPhone 4. That support doc says that I should try the phone number first but if the person has registered an email with FaceTime, I can use that as well. Hmm... so I can use either?
It sounds like the phone number is better when I'm calling her, but it doesn't really explain much about why I would choose one or the other (what the advantages are, etc.)
Thanks.
My understanding is that the iPhone automatically registers the phone number for use with FaceTime during activation. There is a greater chance of completing the Facetime call using the phone number versus the email address (which has to be registered by the user manually).
Thanks; how does an iPhone user register an email address manually? Do they have a Settings > FaceTime process just like us?
I see on my iPad under Settings > FaceTime, underneath You can be reached for video calls at: it does list my email. So I assume I'm registered. But you're saying that my iPhone recipient may not have her email registered, so just to make sure I should probably call her phone number?
Yes,, rick, you are working too hard. To make a call from a phone, find the person in contacts, and touch the facetime button. If your contact entry is complete, both the number and e mail will be there, but you dont touch either, just the face time button.
From the pad, in face time, find the person you are calling in contacts. Their addresses will show up, and if the pad thinks it can call, a little blue camera icon will be there. Could be a number, lr e mail, depending on how the receiver set up their face time. If you dont see the lIttle blue icon, they are not set.
Thanks. I called her phone number and I got "xxxx is not available for Facetime". I tried her email address and I thought I heard some sort of tone but she didn't see anything happen on her iPhone. She thinks her number may not be FaceTime-enabled because she wasn't inside a WiFi zone when I called her. So you have to be within a WiFi network for FaceTime to work?
In Contacts, I have her mobile number and home email but there's no blue camera icon. Actually, looking through my Contacts I don't have camera icons for anybody. Hmm...more investigations are called for...
Thanks, but I have a feeling I'm not entirely sure what WiFi is. I thought that WiFi refers to a wireless connection to the internet that you get via a wireless router, or a hotspot, or the WiFi that you get in some cafes, municipal WiFi networks, campus-wide WiFi, etc. I've always thought that a smartphone like the iPhone on the other hand connects to the internet through a cellular network rather than through WiFi.
Which all proves that I am still learning a lot of these basic concepts.
Ok. There are different kinds of networks. Wifi is the kind of network connection you get from your wireless router. It is fast, and essentially free, because you are already paying your provider. You can also grab a wireless signal at starbucks, and many other public places.
3 g is the data channel associated with cell and smart phones. It is good, because there is almost universal coverage, but it is slow, and it is limited by how much your particular plan will support. It is slow enough that a face time call will not be very enjoyable, so apple limits the app to wifi connections.
The i pad and the i phone both have wifi radios built in, and they are set so that if the device sees a wifi signal, it will use that over 3 g.
So go find a wifi signal, and get the phone on a wifi signal and make your call!
I'm really glad to have this discussion group.
When you say that if the iPhone sees a WiFi signal it will use that over 3g, you mean for FaceTime? The iPhone can't use a WiFi signal to make a regular voice call, can it?
rick7 wrote:
I'm really glad to have this discussion group.
When you say that if the iPhone sees a WiFi signal it will use that over 3g, you mean for FaceTime? The iPhone can't use a WiFi signal to make a regular voice call, can it?
No, Facetime REQUIRES Wifi. Phone calls REQUIRE 3G.
That said, the iPhone will switch from 3G to Wifi for internet connections as needed to access email, internet, location services, etc.
So, Rick.... Did you call her with Facetime? Where are you taking her on your date?? 😉
The rule is that if you are CALLING an iPhone, use the phone number. However, if you are calling another iPad, iPod Touch, or iMac, use the email address.
Rick, you're thinking about it too hard. Just use her phone number, that's what's used first on iPhones.
Good luck getting that date! 😉
And yes, facetime only works when both parties are on wifi.
Does Facetime use email address or phone number?
