FaceTime not connecting in Dubai on non-UAE ipad

I was always under the impression that, in addition to disallowing the programs on devices sold in the country, they also don't exactly support the services on their internet systems.

I tried the time change work around you suggested but am still not able to connect? Any other suggestions would be great.

Im going to try this now, fingers crossed it will work as i miss all my family and friends!!

There are other video chats available. I use skype. Don't know if they will work were you are.

Robert

Did this ever get resolved? I don't need anyone to tell me that FT etc does not work in the UAE. It worked absolutely fine, on iMac, iPad, iPhone etc. no issue as long as you connected through broadband WiFi and not 3G/4G

Now this suddenly seems to have stopped as I can no longer connect on any of our devices, it's ringing and tries to connect but without success. Called Du and of course you get the standard silly reply that FT does not work in the UAE which is a lie and they know it.

I tried the time zone workaround but did not work. Even no luck with VPN enabled.

Any other suggestions?

Even I tried the time zone thing but it doesn't seem to work, did any one figure out a solution for this as I am desperate to see my kids 😟. Skype and other video chat apps does not work as well as FT, and most of the time we end up getting frustrated. Please some one help!!!

I'm afraid we'll have to do without FT for now Nabzter: I had posted the same issue our our Dutch Facebook community page and have received so many replies that people are experiencing the same connectivity issues with FT since a few weeks. They all confirm it was working fine earlier but not anymore.....Some claim it still works with a VPN but I've tried and doesn't work.

I've given up for now and reverted back to Skype, which as you say, isn't the same....

Still hoping for a change in the future as FT is an elemental means of communication especially in a country with so many expats separated from their families.

Exactly striker, it is an essential part of our lives. It used to work very well till end of Feb 2015 then suddenly it stopped, I think it is mostly due to the country code +971, is there any way we can activate the FT without the Phone number. I invested a lot of money and bought two iPhone's enabled with FT but now these phone are useless to me 😟 .

Not sure about that Nabzter, FT also does not work anymore on iMac, MacBook Air, iPad, all devices without SIM and/or +971 telephone number. As far as I know FT never worked on iPhone whilst connected through 3G/4G, only whilst connected through WiFi, but I might be wrong on this.

The thing that I don't get: If the FT service has now been blocked by UAE internet providers (or level higher), how can it be that the person on the other side of the FT call still receives a signal (ringing) but the connection cannot be made? If the FT service is blocked I would expect an immediate error message saying 'Cannot login to FT' or something similar.....

The only thing I will try today is to change my timezone to the same timezone of the person I'm FT calling, see if that works.

Striker, I have DU network and it used to work seamlessly without VPN on my 3g/LTE , but when using it thru Etisalat wifi it required VPN, but now nothing works no VPN, data nothing. I tried changing the time zone after reading the post here, it gives me an error saying " Please check the number you have dialed" and disconnects immediately. I don't understand how it is getting blocked, I mean if we use VPN ideally it should work but it is not.

Same for me: change time zone -> check number.....

If anyone on this forum in UAE can still use FT, please share network/configuration details with us.

Yes, Please share if it works ill take you out for dinner in Burj Al Arab 🙂 .

I don't know the ins & outs of VPN, but I thought it was secure.

Somehow facetime users are finding each other. Maybe the call connection is somehow outside of the vpn.

I may have guessed right. See:

"Chameleon scrambles OpenVPN packet metadata to ensure it’s not recognizable via deep packet inspection (DPI), while still keeping it fast and lightweight."

https://www.goldenfrog.com/vyprvpn/chameleon

Anyway, googled

defeat great firewall

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/slideshow/340647/pictures-five-ways-beat-great-fir ewall-china/?image=1

http://www.networkworld.com/article/2869860/lan-wan/five-ways-to-beat-the-great- firewall-of-china.html

What you may need to do is to install Chameleon on a pc/mac then create a hotspot on this computer. On the iPad connect to your computer's hotspot.

Did read skype is doing some clever stuff to defeat firewalls and nat filtering.

Good luck.

Robert