| Author | Message | ||
     Dynasport |
OK, I was an Alltel customer when Verizon bought them a couple of years ago. Verizon has grandfathered in my plan since, which is a better plan than the current Verizon plans. When I bought my iPhone yesterday I made sure I could keep the plan I am on and get an iPhone and my wife an Android phone. No problem I was told. Well, it is a problem. Facetime does not work for the Alltel plans. After going back to the Verizon store, being sent to the Apple store, spending a couple hours last night on the web researching the problem and trying to fix it myself, then another couple of hours on the phone today with Verizon and Apple, basically Verizon wants me to change to a plan that will cost me 20 or 30 bucks a month more to get Facetime to work. There apparently is a fix to the problem, but no one working on the weekend has the capability to do it and no one there is sure if the ones who can do it will, or if they will continue to push me to sign up for a different (more expensive) plan. Just to be clear, everything else on the phone works. I can make calls. I can get on WiFi. I can surf the net. I can send and receive emails. I can download apps and run them. I can send and receive text messages. I just can't make Facetime calls. Since I have several family members who live out of state and who have iPhones, that was one of the features I was really looking forward to. I really hope this can be resolved tomorrow. I just feel like I was misled. Not intentionally. I don't think anyone I dealt with had any idea Facetime would not work on my current plan. I guess I will be faced with two solutions if Verizon can't make this work. I can pay the extra money for the Verizon plan, or I can switch to AT&T, which probably won't save me any money either. OR, I suppose I could stick with what I have now and just not use Facetime. I just wanted to let you guys know about this glitch in case there are any other former Alltel customers on old plans with Verizon who were thinking about buying an iPhone. | ||
| Seanp |
Thanks for the info - this is useful for folks who are moving to the Verizon iPhone. Let's see how long it takes for some troll to come in here and declare that the iPhone sucks.  | ||
| Froggy |
What about the possibility of jailbreaking it and bypassing it?
Congrats.  | ||
| Oysterman |
Welcome to the joys of an iPhone. I've been an avid user since the 1st generation my only complaint w them was that the folks at the AT&T store never knew ANYTHING about them!! If I ever had any problems they would take a "not our fault" attitude and tell me to go to an apple store. Not exactly convenient for me since the closest one is 2.5 hrs away. There's been a few times where I've been bounced back and forth between the 2 stores cuz each pointed their finger at the other... I had hoped the customer service/training would have been better with verizon, my plans up in 6 months & I was considering leaving AT&T. | ||
| Badlionsfan |
FaceTime only works on wifi on at&t, not 3G. I've had my iPhone 4 since the release date, still haven't used face time. +1 on cell phone companies not knowing anything about the iPhone. I deal with apple store whenever I have issues, which has been a few years and a few iPhone generations ago. | ||
| Blake |
What the heck is "FaceTime"?  Google answered, video calling. meh. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
what is Facetime? I've never heard of it! | ||
| Swampy |
I am still baffeled why people insist on using screw drivers for hammers??? USE THE RIGHT TOOL for the job! | ||
| Froggy |
Apple's poor attempt at video calling. Requires both parties to have a facetime enabled phone (currently only Iphone 4), and with further research, requires you to use a Wifi connection, not your already paid for data connection. Basically, it becomes a wasted feature due to those restrictions. | ||
| Pwnzor |
iPhone sucks.  | ||
| Danger_dave |
There's no doubt a psychological term for a mental midget that justifies their own choices by insulting other's. | ||
| Danger_dave |
(That's a troll BTW) | ||
| Dynasport |
Well, it seems Verizon stepped up to the plate. My Facetime is now working. It has been a long time since I have seen my son and it was great video chatting with him tonight on Facetime. My mom and sister have iPhones as well, and I hope to video chat with them soon as well. Put down my iPhone all you want guys, I am very happy with it. | ||
| Court |
My iPhone is great for everything BUT a phone . . . Friday was not unusual but it was a first . . . every single call I made/got during the day was dropped. I have a great deal on the Verizon if I want . . .but to be honest I REALLY like the being able to use the phone for other things while I talk. | ||
| Xdigitalx |
This isn't facebook.... is it? | ||
| Badlionsfan |
Court, your issue is mainly in the major metro areas (NYC, San Francisco, etc) because of the heavy iPhone use in these areas. It'll be interesting to see how the verizon network holds up as more users get ahold of iPhones. | ||
| Barker |
FaceTime will not work on any cell network. It only works if both phones are on wifi. I use skype to make video calls without wifi. | ||
| Court |
>>>because of the heavy iPhone use in these areas. Why that seemed like an easy out for AT&T before folks started suing them . . . . I don't think that's it. I loose a signal at precisely the same places all over town . . matters little if it's 2:00pm or 2:00am. Their system is technically deficient. | ||
| Chadhargis |
Facetime will also work on Macs. Just download the free application and you can call an iPhone four provided they are: 1) On Wifi 2) Jailbroken to work with 3G data The logic behind only allowing facetime to work over wifi is that cellular data connections are hideously latent. Not as bad as satellite links, but poor none the less. | ||
| Seanp |
Dave - it's funny to see people click on a thread about something they don't like, just so they can denigrate it. It would be like someone who hates Buells coming to this site. Not the brightest folks in the world... | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
seanp - in all fairness, this was a thread started to complain about an issue with the phone. as for the extra 30 bucks, thats probably just the unlimited data plan that all smartphone have. I know when I got my droid I had to also upgrade to it | ||
| Dynasport |
Hybrid, I already had and still have unlimited data. I had it on my Blackberry with Alltel and maintained it when Verizon bought Alltel. My complaint was that I was told I could keep that plan with all its features when I bought the iPhone. My warning is that it appears that if you are a Verizon customer with a grandfathered in plan, facetime does not work without some work and intervention by Verizon. That feature is important to me, and I thought I was providing a service to warn others about the problem. I should have known better. (Message edited by DynaSport on February 13, 2011) | ||
| Seanp |
It's a problem with Alltel, not with the phone.  | ||
| Xl1200r |
but to be honest I REALLY like the being able to use the phone for other things while I talk. This is big deal for me as well. My girlfriend and I use facetime all the time (get your mind out of the gutter) to say goodnight on the nights she's not with me. It's nicer than a regular phone call or text or Instant message. We also have a couple of games that we can play together over WiFi, and it's cool to be able to do that while on speakerphone talking to each other. You can't do that on Verizon. | ||
| Chadhargis |
You can also turn on "Where's my iPhone" and track her every move. LOL! |
