According to a statement released to The Verge, AT&T plans to finally offer access to Apple’s FaceTime service over Cellular to all of their customers, regardless of which data plan they are using (including unlimited plans) by the end of the year.
AT&T has faced a huge amount of criticism over their Facetime over Cellular policies. The carrier initially blocked FaceTime over Cellular to anyone except users of their more expensive Data Share plans, and has been slowly rolling the feature out to more users in an apparent attempt to appease Net Neutrality groups and avoid apossible FCC inquiry over violation of Net Neutrality.
From The Verge:
For video chat apps that come pre-loaded on devices, we currently give all OS and device makers the ability for those apps to work over cellular for our customers who are on Mobile Share or Tiered plans. Apple, Samsung and BlackBerry have chosen to enable this for their pre-loaded video chat apps. And by mid-June, we’ll have enabled those apps over cellular for our unlimited plan customers who have LTE devices from those three manufacturers.
Throughout the second half of this year, we plan to enable pre-loaded video chat apps over cellular for all our customers, regardless of data plan or device; that work is expected to be complete by year end.
Today, all of our customers can use any mobile video chat app that they download from the Internet, such as Skype.
AT&T wants the media and their customers to heil them as heroes for their new-found “generosity,” despite the fact that every other U.S. mobile network offered the same benefit months ago, while AT&T continued to insist on screwing their users. They’ve only now done the right thing, enabling access to FaceTime, Skype, and other services over cellular connections to all of their customers.
The question remains: AT&T – what took you so long?! Caving to consumer demands takes time. AT&T had to realize that their customers weren’t happy with their policies, and change them to prevent even more backlash from consumers and the media. Maybe that’s why they’ve been consistently ranked as America’s WORST wireless carrier for several straight years! FAIL!
Maybe they should change their corporate slogan. AT&T: “We eventually do the right thing for all the wrong reasons. Because we care more about your money than your service.”
The new changes will take full effect for all customers starting in June.