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.
Finding out about this issue has been one of the biggest dissapointments for me as I have a ported telecom number.. however I just tried it again (vain hope) and it registered and I placed my first facetime call !!! very happy. I have an 0272 number on vodafone.
Hope this means it comes right for everyone else as well..
(Complexity has made 1 comment)
@ Complexity:
Hi there — there are two newer articles than this on the site, which confirm that both Telecom and Vodafone have overcome the issues with regards to ported numbers and Facetime.
(Steve Lawrence has made 645 comments)
I know this is an old post, but i need to find out how to actually activate FaceTime on XT. I don’t have a ported number, it just doesn’t work and says waiting for activation no matter what
(PersonyPerson has made 1 comment)
@ PersonyPerson: There’s nothing specific that you should have to do, it should just work. I don’t know why yours wouldn’t be activating. But since as you say this is an old article, you might be better off posting in the forum to see if someone there can help you.
(Steve Lawrence has made 645 comments)