FaceTime

[darlenesierocuk]

I have gone to the apple store to register both of my ipod 4s. Once registered on the apple store network, we (my husband and I) were able to facetime each other.
ANY other location does not work.
I have opened the appropriate ports on my router.
I AM SO DISAPPOINTED WITH APPLE!
It seems their claim that the new ipod 4th cannot Facetime, or at least not without major troubleshooting.
Any help out there???????

It seems that everyone is having a problem with Facetime. I expected more of apple. I have a tech support call scheduled tomorrow with apple, but I think they have not worked out the bugs... I feel like I am dealing with MS!

[Jesse Hollington]

Hi and welcome to iLounge.

I'm assuming that you're connected to a Wi-Fi access point and can otherwise get onto the Internet through apps like Safari?

What type of router are you using?

Most personal/home firewalls shouldn't have issues with FaceTime as its designed to be fairly intuitive, but if you've locked down your network tightly, turned off the Universal Plug-and-Play (UPNP) feature or have an older router that doesn't support UPNP then you may have problems. Opening the ports manually can help (see iPhone 4 and iPod touch (4th generation): Using FaceTime), but turning on UPNP is generally far easier as it will manage the ports for you.

In most home implementations, as long as UPNP is enabled FaceTime should really "just work." That said, I've also seen a few routers where the UPNP implementation is broken.

Further, most public Wi-Fi networks in places like coffee shops should be completely open and not really blocking any ports. I've had no problems using FaceTime from Starbucks, for example, and my wife was able to use FaceTime from a hotel Wi-Fi without any problems once she was signed in each day.

On the other hand, most corporate firewalls will block FaceTime by default. However, most corporate firewalls block a lot of stuff, and FaceTime is not likely to be an exception in this case.

You may also want to try making a FaceTime call to Apple's FaceTime testing number at 1-888-FACETIME (1-888-322-3846). This will at least help to determine if the problem is with making calls or receiving them (it's more likely the latter).

[darlenesierocuk]

I have a wrt54g2 with upnp enabled. Also opened the ports specified by apple. and placed one of the ipods outside the firewall - i.e. dmz. have apple appt at 10 am... D

[Jesse Hollington]

Well, good luck. The WRT54G series are fairly common routers, so I can't see them being a problem in this regard. In fact, I'm pretty sure I know several people who use these routers who are having no problems with FaceTime. Hopefully you can get it straightened out at your Apple appointment.

[darlenesierocuk]

Talked with apple support for about an hour. They stayed on the line even when I needed to drive to Panara Bread to try a different network!!!

After talking to a first tier support, she decided I needed an expert. He came on the line quickly and was very open to the fact that I had tried a number of things. He listened carefully and we began to troubleshoot.

Long story short, try all of this before you need to call apple.

1) if you cannot activate on facetime, go to the nearest apple store and use their wireless network to register

2) make sure you have an EMAIL address set up (can be different than you apple ID), or there is no way to contact you via iPod 4

3) make sure you are connected to a wireless network when trying to facetime on iPod

4) if you have problems facetiming from home - check your router setting
UPnP ON
port forwarding ON for
443 TCP
3478-3497 UDP
16384-16386 UDP
16393-16402 UDP
or
you can set your iPod to be in the DMZ

5) AND my final solution - contact your ISP to request the port forwarding settings for your account (if you are using your home network)

Turns out that Comcast in Jacksonville, FL had some of the ports block! They were very responsive when I requested the ports to be open...

LOVE FACETIME!!!!

[Jesse Hollington]

In terms of number 5, that was actually going to be my next question

Actually, it's fairly uncommon for ISPs to block ports such as those, but at least I'm glad they were able to help you and willing to open them up.

What's more common is to be in a "double-NAT" situation, where your ISP's cable modem/router is already doing network address translation, and then your own Wi-Fi router does another layer. FaceTime generally won't work through a configuration like that and neither will a lot of other things like VPNs and iChat.

Anyway, happy you're enjoying it now that it's working.

[ricb]

Hi I am having the same problem, thanks for the answer but what is the DMZ you mentioned and how do you access the router controls. I have an imac OS 10.6.6
Cheers
Ric