Finally I know someone else with an iPhone4. It has only taken a month! As soon as his phone was on the network we tested Facetime™.I have to say it does work as expected though you have to be careful as to what type of network access you use for wireless.
To me it's obvious, but perhaps to non-technical folk it might not be; You need to have a direct connection to the Internet, this means you can't go via a proxy. We have two wireless networks here and one uses a proxy the other doesn't. The proxy one does not work for Facetime™.
I haven't much on how this protocol works but I assume its similar to a peer to peer application where UDP packets are sent out to create an outbound hole in a firewall that can then be used by the person at the other end of the call. Presumably there is a central registration service which associates a persons mobile number with their current outbound IP address. Again, this is how peer-to-peer networks work.
There's no way they could get away with channelling all video through a central site given how much latency there is getting to Australia.
The quick tests we did showed that the latency was noticable but not Über laggy.
The video quality was passable but with useful lighting it would be better.
All in all, a useful service. Hopefully down the track they will open the protocol and allow other devices to talk with iPhones.
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