FaceTime
This is an update to the FaceTime not working on XT issue we brought you just over a week ago. For the most part it is good news. Hit the read more to find out whether XT have fixed the issues required to get maybe the biggest feature of the iPhone 4 activated and working on XT. We will also confirm how it works with Vodafone and 2degrees and ported numbers.
There is some great news, some good news and some bad news. If you are not familiar with this issue have a quick read of this post in which we told you how FaceTime (although a WIFI-only feature) still needs activating via your carrier and that the activation method from Apple was just not working with XT when we tested it with.
The Great news:
The FaceTime activation issue has nothing to do with official iPhone carriers.
Telecom XT
The Good news:
Without going into the technical stuff, the good news is that FaceTime now works on XT and the activation text gets processed silently with the servers as it should. As you can see from the screen shots below FaceTime is fully working, activated and ready to use over the WIFI network.
FaceTime Activated on XT
The Bad news:
Unfortunately FaceTime only works for non-ported numbers.
To be clear, FaceTime will not currently work if you ported your number over to Telecom from Vodafone or 2degrees. FaceTime will only work with original Telecom 027 numbers that are still on Telecom. FaceTime will remain in the perpetual “waiting for activation” state if you have a ported number.
Perpetual waiting for activation error on ported number
Vodafone
We also told you in our previous post how FaceTime works as it should on Vodafone. Whilst this is true and has been confirmed this was only with Original Vodafone 021 numbers. We have now been able to test a ported XT to Voda SIM 027 number and once again the ported number will not activate FaceTime.
Again without getting too technical on this it seems it is Apple who are at fault with this. There is a Portability Table which the SMS leaving Apple should reference. It seems these SMS messages are not referencing this table correctly and the SMS is going to the original network before the port causing the FaceTime service not to activate.
To confirm what we said in the previous post… this is a worldwide issue. Forums arounf the web are full of FaceTime Activation problems and with a few exceptions they are all down to ported numbers.
Apple could do whatever they need to do at their end with the Portability Table and this could be up and running for ported numbers at anytime, but at the time of writing this post ported numbers are 100% no go.
We also wanted to let you know that you are being charged approx 20c for the activation messages. If you keep getting the error SMS message below or you flick FaceTime on and see the “carrier may charge” pop up message you will be charged. You may see the error message or you may not but once you hit OK to the charge you’re down 20c regardless of whether or not FaceTime activates.
Pop up to notify you of charges
Error SMS message on ported number
2degrees
If you read our FaceTime not working on XT post and you were keen to know if 2degrees would have any issues we can confirm that it is. We have been able to test with a 2degrees SIM on an iPhone 4 and we are happy to report it is working as it should.
FaceTime Activated on 2degrees
We do not have a ported 2degrees SIM to test with but we are pretty certain all ported numbers are a no-go.
For the most part FaceTime is good to go in New Zealand. The majority of iPhone 4 owners should not have any issues but if you have a ported number the feature will be unavailable for the time being. We will of course update this post should anything change with the ported numbers.
There you go folks, that is the full rundown on activating FaceTime with New Zealand carriers. Not quite as simple as Apple (“Works right out of the box” “All you need is Wi-Fi”) led us to believe is it?
Is FaceTime a big deal for you? Would you change your ported number with XT, Vodafone or 2Degrees to a non ported number to get this going? Annoyed at how Apple sold it and the activation method involved? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments.
It would be nice to have this all sorted. I’ve made a FaceTime call on my Vodafone SIM. But that’s getting disconnected at the end of the month
. I’d really like it to work on my ported 021 number. I’m not keen on changing my number.
(visionarymedia has made 66 comments)
If I have to change numbers, I’ll have to change Business Cards! I was hoping to not have to do this until the end of the year!
(visionarymedia has made 66 comments)
So if you activate and then port, porting breaks it?
(bellapl1 has made 10 comments)
bellapl1 wrote:
Whilst we haven’t tested that exact scenario it would seem so yes.
Hi I replied via Twitter but it was not acknowledged. I am with Vodafone NZ and have a ported non-021 number which works with FaceTime 100%.
@bellapl1 – if you google for it there is a help file saying something like if you port your number then you have to do the activation process all over again before it will work.
(ahmad has made 101 comments)
ahmad wrote:
Sorry for the non-Twitter reply, but we are busy with our day jobs. As for the working with your ported number….. to confirm you have an 027 number with Vodafone, correct?
If this is the case then not really sure what is happening there, maybe it works for some and not others and you would have to try and see if it works. I have an 027 on Vodafone and it does not work.
Can anyone else confirm/deny if this works for them with an 027 on Vodafone?
(Daniel Burgess has made 613 comments)
Has anyone experience with XT in Northland? When I have my iPhone4 (3wks!?!) would like to go from Vodafone to XT or 2degrees. Thanks
(Tulip has made 35 comments)
@ Dan: Sorry I meant that I replied via the channel I received notification of this post. I have a ported 022 working with FaceTime on Vodafone NZ
S
(ahmad has made 101 comments)
@ ahmad:
Thanks Ahmad. Can I ask if you activated the 022 number with FaceTime before porting your number?
Number was ported TO Vodafone. THEN I activated it in iPhone 4 FaceTime. It was the first time that number had ever been activated to FaceTime, and that activation was done on the Vodafone network. Is that what you were asking?
(ahmad has made 101 comments)
ahmad wrote:
Our notification tweets are automated
(Steve Lawrence has made 645 comments)
I’ve got a VF number that has been ported to 2D but I don’t have iP4 yet to test. As soon a I get it i’ll report results.
This does explain another problem I’ve been having – trying to get caller ID working on Skype, they are supposed to send a text but I never get it. What is the portability table you are talking about? Maybe I need to let Skype know about this.
(Omad has made 65 comments)
Out of interest does the fix detailed by Apple help/fix the ported number problem?
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4246
(mikeohall has made 7 comments)
Also to show *some* ported numbers not working here is an image of an 027 on Voda showing issues…..
[img]http://web8.twitpic.com/img/139244881-b51d3592fca4df2b5d952ff61740a568.4c566cf0-full.png[/img]
(Daniel Burgess has made 613 comments)
I had heard there were issues with the porting so was one of the reasons I signed the Vodafone contract to get my iPhone 4 as a complete new connection rather than bothering with porting the 027 number. I am disconnecting the contract anyway so in the meantime the 021 sim is sitting in my old 3GS downloading the 3GB data they give me, while my 027 sim rocks the Iphone 4.
Great write up guys, you really do have your noses to the ground and know just what it is people need to know
(camtab has made 464 comments)
When I got my iPhone 4 early from the UK and this was initially not working with XT atall I told myself I could live without it, since then whilst testing for the purposes of the article above I have used FaceTime to speak to friends in the UK and it is pretty spectacular.
Lets hope a fix is on the way otherwise personally I will change numbers to an 027.
Hey guys.
Wow, I've Googled for ages and you're the first ones to have a comprehensive response.
I even rang Apple Support yesterday and they admitted they had no idea what was going on (and told me to ring back in a week!). I've done the restore, reset network settings, erase all content and settings, send a mms, receive a mms and usual problem solving things.
I can confirm facetime is NOT working on a Vodafone mobile with a ported 027 number. Apple Support isn't sure what is going on (as of yesterday; they were a little surprised I had an iPhone 4 too – "wow, you've got an iPhone 4").
It's not the end of the world (I only know one other person I could ft at this point) but looking forward to them sorting it. Thanks for the great post.
(glenstorey has made 9 comments)
@ Dan:
nope, not working for me on vodafone with an 027 number.
(glenstorey has made 9 comments)
@ ahmad: I have come across the official apple support document I think you are referring to but this only covers if you activate with a number and then port that same number to a new network and does not cover activating already ported numbers. As I say we have not tested activating with a number and then porting that same number to a new network to see if it remains activated or reactivates OK and it maybe that particular scenario does work.
However this differs from your situation in which you say you you have an already ported number which activated FaceTime on voda without issue? Is that correct? Can you as Dan said confirm what the original first three numbers were before porting to voda I.e. 027 etc.
Thanks ahmad.
@ ahmad:
Yes that's exactly what I was asking. Thanks for the info.
If this is the case it seems 2degrees to voda maybe an exception. We will try to look into this further. Thanks again.