iPad 3rd Generation Doesn’t allow FaceTime over LTE

With the iPad 3rd generation now available in Apple Retail stores and third party retailers, and multiple carriers offering high speed 4G networking, customers are beginning to question as to why FaceTime, Apple’s video chat service is still limited to WiFi. Apple introduced FaceTime with the iPhone 4 and eventually expanded it to the iPod touch and then the iPad 2. It is now a part of the iOS and OS X lineup and is gaining more usage from customers who purchase Apple’s devices.

FaceTime, even with the faster 4G LTE on the iPad 3 is limited mainly because of carriers worrying about the overuse of data, which can bog down the network and can ultimately slow it for other users. On Thursday, in a report, The Verge revealed that FaceTime does not work on LTE network. A notification pops up, alerting the user that they are not connected to a WiFi and that FaceTime does not operate over 4G LTE.

In June 2010, Steve Jobs noted during the iPhone 4 keynote that Apple had yet to work with carriers in order to allow usage of FaceTime over 3G or 4G. Currently, Apple limits most of their products unless they can guarantee that the users will get a seamless experience and this most certainly falls in that category. Apple will likely allow FaceTime over 4G once the iPhone receives faster 4G LTE networking. This means that FaceTime over cellular network, unfortunately, may be limited for a few more years.

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One Comment on ““iPad 3rd Generation Doesn’t allow FaceTime over LTE”

  1. arsie

    I understand why these networks disabled it but I still think it is not a good excuse why are they suppressing users not able to use 4G for FaceTime. 

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