Now BBM has voice calls as well as video calls so maybe FaceTime should get voice calls too. FaceTime's video quality is excellent so I would be eager to see similar quality voice calls. I don't want to waste minutes if I can talk over Wi-Fi for free.
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General Will we ever see FaceTime voice calls?
- Thread starter dingdongbubble
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Of course we will, but it wont be called Facetime, obviously.
It will change everything in terms of the way carriers price contracts and handsets, so they will need to be on board.
I think Blackberry has been given the chance to do it because they are a relatively small market now, especially these newer handsets, so they can test the water without making much of an impact.
Similar to when the iTunes music store first went online it was Mac only, again a relatively small number of users, so if it worked out to be detrimental to the music industry the impact wouldn't be severe.
Its definatly coming though, the carriers are probably doing the maths and figuring out how they can squeeze more money out us by doing it.
It will change everything in terms of the way carriers price contracts and handsets, so they will need to be on board.
I think Blackberry has been given the chance to do it because they are a relatively small market now, especially these newer handsets, so they can test the water without making much of an impact.
Similar to when the iTunes music store first went online it was Mac only, again a relatively small number of users, so if it worked out to be detrimental to the music industry the impact wouldn't be severe.
Its definatly coming though, the carriers are probably doing the maths and figuring out how they can squeeze more money out us by doing it.
If you press the home button while you're on a video call you can speak with the other person without being seen. That's the closest to "FaceTime voice calls"...
It will show the last frame of video, frozen, and text that says that the call is paused, but audio will still work.
FaceTime is free, normal voice calls are not. FaceTime is preinstalled on the phone and other apps which could do this are not. That's what I think!
Download the free TextFree voice app from Pinger. They give you free phone minutes by watching short advertising video clips. They also give you a real telephone number. Problem solved, now you have free phone calls over your WiFi internet connection.
I assume Apple's relationship with the carriers wont allow them to do a voice-only FaceTime setting. I also assume that carriers make more money selling 550 minutes of voice than they do selling the equivalent data.
Then again, Apple managed to get in iMessage, a directly competitor to the ridiculously overpriced SMS... So maybe one day.
(I'd like just general VOIP because cell coverage sucks at my house but the Internet connection is fine.)
Then again, Apple managed to get in iMessage, a directly competitor to the ridiculously overpriced SMS... So maybe one day.
(I'd like just general VOIP because cell coverage sucks at my house but the Internet connection is fine.)
But if Apple were to release free voice calls what could the carriers do? Stop supporting iPhone? Good luck with that.
Have you even tried the app? I've been impressed with it for a few years now. Besides working over WiFi it also works over your cell network. Free texting and calls is a huge plus in my book. Plus you can block people from contacting you, unlike with the native app on the iPhone.
I doubt it. Telecoms want to keep that nice base income from minutes packages on their cell plans. Once you have calls and texts going over data or wifi, you won't need voice minutes anymore.
How about releasing it for Macs and iPads at least. That might point out that its thr carriers stopping Apple and sort of put pressure on the carriers.
Check out Viber. It's free and there's no minute limit.
Only downside I can think of is the other person also has to have Viber installed.
Only downside I can think of is the other person also has to have Viber installed.
So that's like Skype. How is the audio quality compared with FaceTime? I find FaceTime to have significantly better quality than Skype.
I used Viber with my Bro in Oz (im in the UK so could be any further away) and it was as if he was standing in the same room.
Its only as good as you internet connection though.
As for Apple doing voice over data, I'm sure they want to but it would piss off the carriers.
Skype has an option to switch the camera on/off. So Apple just has to add this ability to FaceTime. By switching off the camera you will need less bandwidth and this will allow to deliver the voice with better quality or make the call possible when you have a less stable 3G or wifi connection.
So basically, you just want the ability to call over 3G?
Not necessarily over 3G. Over WiFi is fine.
