AT&T has announced this morning that it will be once again be expanding support for iOS 6’s FaceTime over cellular for its subscribers. It appears that all iOS users who are on a tiered data plan, will be able to utilize the feature from any FaceTime compatible device.
The carrier took quite a bit of heat last year when it initially announced that FaceTime over cellular would only be available to iOS users on its shared data plans. It later opened up the feature to legacy data plans, and then to LTE users. And now it’s available for all…
MacRumors points to a new post on AT&T’s Consumer Blog:
“When FaceTime over Cellular launched in September 2012, we explained that we wanted to roll it out gradually to ensure the service had minimal impact on the mobile experience for all of our customers.
As a result of ongoing testing, we’re announcing AT&T will enable FaceTime over Cellular at no extra charge for customers with any tiered data plan using a compatible iOS device.
This means iPhone 4S customers with tiered plans will be able to make FaceTime calls over the AT&T cellular network. AT&T previously made FaceTime over Cellular available to customers with a Mobile Share plan and those with an LTE device on tiered plans.”
The carrier says that it has already begun to update their systems and processes, and it expects to start rolling out the update to customers on an ongoing basis beginning in the next couple of weeks. The update, they say, will be applied automatically in the coming months.
The takeaway here is that any AT&T customer with a supported device — meaning the iPhone 4S and newer, and the 3rd-gen iPad and newer — will soon be able to use FaceTime over cellular regardless of what data plan they’re on. And that’s pretty good news if you ask me.
The only users who still can’t use the feature are those on grandfathered unlimited data plans.