FaceTime 3G data consumption tested: about 3MB per minute
By Vlad Savov 
posted August 4th 2010 9:08AM
posted August 4th 2010 9:08AM
[Thanks, Sam]
posted August 4th 2010 9:08AM
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So for those with the cheap $15 plan, you end up with one hour of FaceTime a month. Thank goodness I'm grandfathered in to unlimited.
Or they just do it at a call rate like Australia and have it included in your cap/plan and non of this data rubbish ...
@ashwinkn
I wouldn't use facetime for much more than showing something to someone real quick like a portable webcam. Now all they need to do is add real time captions and I can make my lolcats on the fly.
But was the England comment -really- neccessary? Low blow, Engadget.
@ashwinkn
Goes to show how ridiculous AT&T's data cap is.
And I am not 100% against caps - I can understand they might be needed from a carrier's perspective - but the level that the current caps are set at and the price they cost is obscene.
The lowest one should be 0.5 GBs for like $10 and the next one up should be 2 GBs for $20. A 200 MB tier is an insult.
@GenericPoster
Low, but accurate blow, we were terrible. Roll on Poland/Ukraine.
I agree with you on FaceTime, the last thing i want to do is video call, i don't even phone people all that often.
@d0mth0ma5
It doesn't help that England had it's underwear stolen by hotel staff right after losing.
@Hazdaz why do people keep saying the plans are "capped"? There is no cap, it is just not unlimited at tiered. You can use all the data you want to use, you'll just pay for it!
@Hazdaz
I agree, 200mb is just ridiculous.
Thank god I live in Canada and Rogers has the 6GB/month for $30 plan every iphone launch xD
@dandy1117
semantics... the point is that if you are on the lowest tier, you have to cap your data below that 200MB threshold or pay a considerable amount more money for a paltry amount of extra data.
Maybe "cap" isn't the right word to use, but the current tiered system is a joke... and unfortunately I see the rest of the industry moving in that direction.
@ashwinkn
If you have the 200MB plan you really shouldn't want to do this in the first place. 3 MB/min will not affect me with a 2GB cap. I don't think I'll spend 10 hours, 5 hours, or even 1 hour on FaceTime calls over 3G per month.
Good job I didn't get rid of unlimited data.
@fais Good job I left ATT/iPhone for Sprint and unlimited data and unlimited video calling over 3g....
@fais
You and me both bro, you and me both.
@EagleyeSmith
Yeah anyone who didn't work out; front facing camera + limited data = bad is a fool and I pity him.
@fais
I feel bad for anyone who couldn't figure our Qik video calls over 3G = complicated + terrible quality
Is Fring working again for video chat?
@kreg37 Fring's video chat's always worked -- just not to Skype users.
@Richard Lai How does it work then? With whom does it work? iPhone4 only users? Or can I video chat with a desktop user?
@Kid Red I works with any device that supports Fring. I don't know of a desktop client, but I know iPhone to Android is possible.
Wow! Thank god Apple finally invented video calls!
Wait... no they didn't!
I feel deceived. :(
@loocas Who said they did? Or are you just trying to be cool?
@stockpile
I think the proper thing to say would be
hey apple was the first one to put video callin in a commerial and make the uneducated pupblic think they invented it even when they didn't
@Hobowhiteside Before you call other people uneducated you might want to spell check your comments.
@Hobowhiteside
It's all word play. Even Apple knows that they didn't "invent" VideoCalling. They really play on that word "innovate". They believe that the way that they brought VideoCalling to the iPhone 4 is a new way of video calling, which is it, "the way Apple has done it". Get it? Haha.
i tried out the Qik with 2 friends of mine for the Evo. that is one awesome program. but i know it sucks up data like its going out of style. you really gotta have at least a 2gb plan if ur on ATT. glad im on sprint and its unlimited.
@DoomLight
Sprint would certainly need to drop unlimited once more Android and Windows Phone 7 devices get to their network.
@ashwinkn I'd suggest you check your facts.
First off, Sprint's data plans are NOT unlimited; they have a 5GB cap.
Secondly, the premium data plan add-on ($10 extra) gives you unlimited plus 4G.
@Yarnage Still better than anyone else's data plan so I fail to see why you are bitching everyone did the same thing before the new tier plans were announced "unlimited" was not truly unlimited but it wasnt really enforced by anyone I used tether on my bb and went over and never paid a dime over.. I have verizon and I love my incredible but the evo is fantastic and once 4g rolls out more places it will be well worth the extra charge.
@Yarnage The difference is Sprint's 5GB cap for devices without the $10 premium data add-on is a "Soft" cap and is known to not be enforced. Plus it's only $15 and it gets you a lot more than 250mb even with a 5GB soft cap. :)
@Yarnage
Well, both AT&T and Verizon's "unlimited" plans have 5GB caps as well. Unlimited is only in name. $30 a month for 5 GB is still arguably a better deal than $25 for 2 GB.
@Yarnage Actually you should check you facts. Sprint DATACARDs have a 5GB cap. Sprint PHONES have no data cap, either on 3g or 4g.
@Pusta Yep, Sprint's phone plans have unlimited data.
@Yarnage Where the hell did you get the 5GB limit from? Kinda ironic since you made a big deal out of someone else 'Checking their facts'. It says right on the Sprint page that the Simply Everything and Everything Data plans are truly unlimited.
@ashwinkn
I disagree. I have gone well over the 5GB on my iPhone 3Gs multiple months in the past year with ATT and never had any issues.
@Yarnage
No, you check your facts, moron.
@Jdoc2 I have a friend who always went way past the 5gb soft cap for Sprint, more than once, he never got an extra fee. Another reason why the Evo (or Epic) are the phones to buy for video conferencing.
I wish Apple would just bite the bullet and tweak face time to work over 3G on networks with long-established video calling plans/data plans. I used to pay a flat fee of about 70 cents a minute to video call any phone on any network in Australia, with my N95. Just like a regular call. I still can, if I had a phone with a front-facing camera.
Now, If I get an iPhone, I need to either video call from home (redundant, as I have a webcam and skype), or jailbreak and use up my 3G data (of which I only have 2GB/month).
Sorry Apple, but in your efforts to "re invent" video calling, you've taken a few MAJOR steps in the wrong direction.
@TheRealCJ
What's the betting that the limitation to WiFi is carrier enforced? What's the benefit to Apple to restrict it to WiFI? Once they've gotten an idea how popular FaceTime/video chat is, the carriers will then work out a way to charge for it (even with high cap plans).
@TheRealCJ
Apple would boxed into forcing Facetime over WiFi by the mobile networks who feard that their already crippled networks would die on the extra data usage of all the new iPhone users using Facetime all the time....
Seeing as probably all of 3 people ever actually used video calling before the iPhone 4, it was never really an issue. Now it is.
Stop blaming Apple for a decision that wasn't their's. My Android phone won't allow video calling over 3G for the same reasons....
@Canucker But its not popular.. Its a gimmick right now and its the cool new thing to show people but what is it good for? The cute little face time commercials would only work for me in my own house to my GF.. only one person I know has the iphone 4 because everyone else either didn't see the point of going up from the 3gs to a phone with known issues and magical display buzzwords or they went to android phones on more reliable carriers and frankly are more than happy with the customization they weren't able to have on the iphones..
@Bender the great
Genuine question, why doesn't your Android phone do video calling over 3g? I ask because my Evo does in fact do video calling over 3g. Is this purely a carrier limitation you are referencing, or are you indicating an Android limitation?
Well, in America yes.
But like I said, AUSTRALIA already has a very well established (close to a decade) video calling network. And since Apple runs on EVERY network here (and you can get the iPhone unlocked too), wouldn't it make sense to allow users to video call with their phone plan, instead of forcing them to use up their precious (it's still costs over a dollar per non-plan Mb on some plans here) data?
If Apple can allow tethering in certain countries, I'm sure the can work out how to make a decade-old standard viable.
@thunder18 He got a "special" Android phone...it lives in his head and only comes out for inaccurate facts referencing...right.
@thunder18
I wouldn't be surprised if it was a carrier limiation, it's a Samsung Galaxy S, so not exactly a low level device.
@Taller
Imaginary like your dick, yeah?
@TheRealCJ
Looks like they need *over* 384kpbs to run facetime. And to maintain its 'high quality', they are likely running MJPEG video.
Of course, if they followed a standard like RTSP and H.263 (which is gear for mobile R/T video, DVB, etc.. vs. H.264), FT would be running on 3G now, with decent quality, but smooth.
Ah, Apple, trying to reinvent the H.264 standard for mobile I bet (and not surprised).
However, based on what I've seen, FaceTime quality is phenomenally good; whereas, Fring's is really poor-quality. Not a great alternative.
@darex Which means you have seen Apple's commericls which are fake. They don't show an actual facetime stream. I bet you think the Mac vs PC ads were telling the truth, too.
@Jordus
Which means *you* haven't seen an actual FaceTime stream either. The quality really is quite good - perhaps you should read any one of a billion or so reviews that point this fact out.
Troll Different.
@HotFuzz A billion or so reviews? It would take years to get that many reviews. Not to mention that there hasn't been that many iPhones 4 sold, so what you basically said was; people make reviews without actually having the product.
@HotFuzz I've seen Facetime.. it's decent (for a 640x480 camera at least). I really don't see Facetime becoming a standard. If you've ever seen Skype Mobile on a few of those Verizon phones, you'd be very impressed with the quality. ALSO, Skype is muuuuuch more far-reaching and is not just limited to iPhone4 users. Even my mother who lives in Denmark - who is technologically inept - has Skype installed on her PC to video talk with me and her grandson here in the states.
As soon as Skype opens its wings more in the mobile market, it's all over for Facetime, Qik, Fring, Yahoo Video, etc. unless these apps can find a way to interface (API perhaps?) into the Skype networks of 500+ million users.
@Jordus
Not only that but since you can only use it via wifi I started to wonder.. did the soldier in the tent and the women in the ro getting a sonogram both have wifi connectivity?!? i found that to be a bit of a stretch.lol