"FaceTime Works Right Out Of The Box".....We beg to differ
OK We know what you are thinking: of course FaceTime does not work on XT or any other network for that matter, as Apple clearly stated in the iPhone 4 keynote that it will be wifi-only for the remainder of 2010… HOWEVER… FaceTime over wifi requires activation via your carrier and XT just isn’t having it. Read on to find out why.
I was lucky enough to score two unlocked iPhones from the UK which arrived in NZ a week ago. Understandably, I was keen to test out Apple’s face-to-face video calling (FaceTime) as it’s arguably the biggest new feature of the device. Once I had chopped up the SIM, activated and set it up I went straight to the dial screen to look for the FaceTime icon. It wasn’t there. I then went to my wife’s address book card who also had the new iPhone 4 set up and ready to go but still there was no FaceTime call option.
Bit strange, I thought, but no worries. I then headed into Settings and phone settings where I was greeted with the below screen:
FaceTime Activate Option
Ah no problem, my bad, I just need to enable FaceTime and I am good to go. What I did not know then but do now is that in order to activate FaceTime Apple send two “silent” (i.e. background) SMS messages to the handset which in turn activate the SIM and phone number on Apple’s FaceTime server. Makes sense, right? So what’s the problem?
Well, XT along with numerous other networks world-wide are not handling this silent activation text as they should be. Once you turn FaceTime on you are greeted with the below: “Your carrier will charge for the activation text message” pop-up.
SMS Activation Charge Warning
Once you have hit OK the silent text then actually gets delivered to your phone and it keeps getting delivered every 5 minutes or so until you turn FaceTime off.
So Called Silent Activation Text
FaceTime remains unactivated and unavailable to use. No icon in address book or on dial pad.
Waiting For Activation
No FaceTime icon
What we know:
As the feature is wifi only, XT do not need to “allow” video calling or “permit” anything, they are absolutely not blocking any features of the new iPhone. This is a technical issue as to how the XT network handles the activation text message.
XT are aware and are working on this issue as we speak. They have confirmed it is a technical issue and expect to resolve it quickly. XT have always unofficially gone above and beyond for their iPhone customers and I do not see this blip being any different.
FaceTime SMS registration messages are 7-bit but have a UDH header to direct them to an application port. This is different to the normal flows of handset application messages which are more normally 8-bit with UDH. Apple: they have to be different, right?
One user had the same issue but when he was overseas and roaming on another network his iPhone activated. On the flip side people who have successfully activated it have been roaming on another network only to find FaceTime disabled again and requiring re-activation. It is 100% an issue with how Telecom XT is handling the activation texts from Apple.
Three other NZ iPhone 4 owners and developers who are on Vodafone have confirmed for iPhonewzealand that they are not having these issues and FaceTime is working as it should. With the feature working on Vodafone but not XT we can rule out that FaceTime has not been “switched on” for New Zealand yet.
FaceTime works with FaceTime URL’s, an example of which for an NZ number is facetime-prompt://+6421xxxxxxx These URL’s once clicked on activate a FaceTime call. Apple need your number for the server to make your FaceTime URL “active” If your number is not on the server as with any non recognized URL it will not work.
The web forums are full of people having the same issue. A quick Google for FaceTime activation will bring up a ton of threads.
Google Search
What we don’t know:
Whilst there is nothing as yet to suggest this is to do with official iPhone carriers only being able to handle the activation text with the Apple servers, that could very well change and be the case. Lets face it, it would not exactly be unlike Apple to do this. As it stands right now we do not think this is the case, it has been suggested on forums but there is nothing solid as yet to support this.
Conclusion:
Whilst we felt it only right to inform the good citizens of iPhonewzealand of this issue we do not think at this point in time Telecom will be unable resolve this issue.
The part which I find a little annoying is that the Apple site states FaceTime works right out of the box with no set up. If Apple need to register users on their FaceTime servers it should be done by device UDID or Apple email ID. As I mentioned earlier even users who have successfully activated FaceTime are reporting once overseas and roaming on other networks FaceTime unactivates and can not be used. So much for all you need is a WIFI connection.
From the Apple site:
One-tap simple.
FaceTime works right out of the box — no need to set up a special account or screen name. And using FaceTime is as easy as it gets. Let’s say you want to start a video call with your best friend. Just find her entry in your Contacts and tap the FaceTime button. Or maybe you’re already on a voice call with her and you want to switch to video. Just tap the FaceTime button on the Phone screen. Either way, an invitation pops up on her iPhone 4 screen asking if she wants to join you. When she accepts, the video call begins. It’s all perfectly seamless. And it works in both portrait and landscape modes.
We will of course update this post if anything changes but for now it looks like I will be waiting a while longer before having a FaceTime call.
We will be furthing testing on Dan’s iPhone 4 next week (when it arrives) and we will be testing on 2Degrees as well to check and see if it is an XT only thing, or a non-official carrier thing.
Are you lucky enough to have already scored an iPhone 4? Are you experiencing these FaceTime activation issues on XT? Are you running your iPhone 4 on Vodafone or 2degrees without FaceTime issues? Or maybe your XT iPhone 4 is not having these problems? Would it be a deal breaker for you if XT could not get this going? let us know all your thoughts on this in the comments.
Nooooooo!!! I really hope they fix it… and fast!
(Steve Lawrence has made 645 comments)
Interesting that the ‘silent’ text was from a UK number on a UK iPhone, does that mean face time will only work in the country where the phone was bought??
(Andy has made 11 comments)
im sure telecom will fix it before it goes live in NZ
its one of the main things iv been looking forward to…
please fix it XT
(kiwiboi22 has made 57 comments)
So its your understanding that XT think they can fix it? Not a major deal or do we need to hound Apple as to why this doesnt work? Unfortunately I fear you wont get anything out of Apple NZ just yet as although they say you can use any sim from any carrier they do so with the understanding you are “based” in the country of purchase so will probably pull the “UK iphone needs to be activated in UK” (although contrary to standard practices and also doesn’t answer why those who did activate are now having troubles traveling)
(camtab has made 468 comments)
Andy wrote:
No mate, that is the logical conclusion and my first thought however all iPhones users who are having this issue receive the text from the UK number. Unlocked iPhones purchased in France and other places at launch also received the UK activation text. People in Brazil are receiving the UK text. The 3 iPhone NZ Devs who confirmed for us their Voda iPhones are working also got theirs from the UK and have activated without issue. UK purchase is not the issue but as I say that is the first thing you would think of, at least I did anyway when I said Oh S**t
@ camtab: I have been onto Apple today, 2 hours on the phone and it has been escalated to a senior engineer. I did not tell him I was running my iPhones on a non official carrier as I did not want to give them the easy way out and let them fob me off with “official carrier only” BS. Having said that, that is exactly what they may come back with as I sent them screen grabs this morning. I will update as soon as I hear anything. The senior engineer was stumped.
@ camtab: I agree, You would think Apple NZ would be less than helpful as it was bought in the UK and this is what I was expecting, however I just gave them the serial number which was registered with Apple and they were great. I also expected poor support as the iPhone 4 has not been released here yet but to be fair they were very good, hence the 2 hours on the phone this morning. First time ever I have had to phone Apple and it was a last resort.
Do we expect Telecom to resolve? At this point yes but nothing is a cert.
Hey Paul.
Your phone number is visible in the text message screenshot (+64….)
Mike
(mikebat has made 1 comment)
Probably not the problem but figured I would share in the remote chance it helps. I have been reading the solutions online for this failing overseas and I found a common situation. Apparently the activation is done via a MMS type message as opposed to SMS. Users overseas found that they were unable to send MMS messages and once that was fixed, so was the face time activation. Just a stab but have you tried to MMS between the two iPhones and all settings loaded in that department. I know you well and truly on top of things just an idea to tick off as “not at fault”
(camtab has made 468 comments)
Jono Hayes wrote:
Nope, apparently not. Apple sold it as something that simple but as you can see it isn’t.
camtab wrote:
I agree here, although we are going to do more testing and hopefully Telecom can fix it, if it is an issue with them and not Apple, it is not a biggie for me.
I know few people that I would want to have a FaceTime chat with and once Skype sort their stuff out and update their app I will use Skype instead.
(Daniel Burgess has made 613 comments)
Facetime: Big deal. I wont know many other iPhone 4 sers for a while, and even fewer of those would I want to facetime!
I’m just waiting for a proper SIP application that can use the cameras, then I’ll be able to video call to my home VoIP phones.
But then a privacy issue, so does this mean with facetime turned on, any phone call I make is logged by an apple server, so it can be matched to any other iPhone 4 users anywhere in the world if I happen to call them? What juristiction are these servers in, are they local to the phone service, or US based in the Land of the Free (unless the Feds have a subpoena), And also this imbedding with activation through phone numbers pretty much rules out integration with other desktop video chat apps or SIP communication clients. Also don’t think I saw SMS or MMS listed as one of the alphabet soup of acronyms in the release technote, so again Apple is being a little bit cagey about this one. Makes me smell a rat!
(Chromeronin has made 2 comments)
@ mikebat: FIXED
(Daniel Burgess has made 613 comments)
mikebat wrote:
Thanks mate No worries though. I may be getting a new Voda number soon
Also just FYI..the facetime icon doesn't come up until you actually call the person and then if both phones are iPhone 4, the hold button changes to facetime and you start then. You won't see the icon on the dial pad until you are in the call. Again just passing on my findings, not suggesting I know Jack about this.
(camtab has made 468 comments)
@ camtab: Thanks Camtab, any suggestions are always appreciated. Have tried the MMS thing and SMS thing so many times I have lost count, Just when I though I am not doing this again the first thing the Apple engineers asked me to try was to SMS and MMS myself
Also aware the facetime icon only appears when on the dial pad when there is a call in progress and FT is available. I just didn't want to post a screen grab of the dial pad dialing my wife's iPhone 4 withe her details etc.
As I say though keep the suggestions coming and thanks.
@ Paul: Excellent… Assumed you would have tried those things esp. given you spoke to apple but figured worth a shot. Really hope you/XT can resolve but in reality (for me) not sure how many facetime calls I would make so still not a deal breaker and I will be connecting to XT from day one regardless.
(camtab has made 468 comments)
this is stupid, isn't FaceTime just SIP video calling with a fancy name!
(Jono Hayes has made 11 comments)
@ Chromeronin:
as far as i know. when a call is connected device information can be sent between the 2 devices. and i can imagine Facetime use this to see if that device has FaceTime.
the only time the call will go through apple is when you hit the facetime button witch then turns the call into a SIP connection no longer using you service provider.
(Jono Hayes has made 11 comments)
@ Jono Hayes: Screen shots of how FaceTime will work on the new iPod touch leaked earlier this week, the FaceTime on the new iTouch will be activated by your Apple ID as obviously SMS is not available. I suspect this will be the norm across apple devices in time including the iPhone until then Apple choose to use this SMS method on the iPhone.