Following various reports in the media beginning with AppleInsider, AT&T has begun rolling out official support for FaceTime Over Cellular across the country this week.
The update being pushed out across the country in waves is allowing customers on older unlimited data plans and newer tiered data plans the capability to use FaceTime over HSPA+ and LTE with no noticeable degradation in quality from usage over Wi-Fi. AT&T had previously announced that support for FaceTime Over Cellular would be limited to LTE and the iPhone 5 this month, but it seems the carrier has enabled support regardless of network and iPhone type.
The inclusion of FaceTime over Cellular came as a result of sustained customer complaints regarding the lack of such support on AT&T over the past few months, while other third-party solutions were allowed access over HSPA+/LTE with little issue. Currently, AT&T is still on track to enable all video chat applications over its cellular network by the end of the year, following previous statements to enable such access over its network.
If you wait long enough, it won’t matter since people will have moved on. Smart move on their part.