I currently live in Japan. Most of my friends are back in the USA. Luckily I have the internet. If not for the Internet I think I’d go stir crazy, plus I have no idea what I’d do for work. Anyway, many of my friends and family back home have the latest iPhones. I too have the latest iPhone here in Japan, and as long as we are connected to local wifi networks it is possible to do video chat with Facetime.
It all started a few weeks ago. My brother wanted to do Facetime, I personally didn’t care. I had tried a couple times to instantiate the call, and gave up. My brother though was adamant about getting it to work.
When making a normal phone call to Japan from the United States you do as follows: 011 + 81 + phone number. Most Japanese phone numbers start with a 0, when calling Japan you remove that leading 0
When making a phone call to the united states from Japan you do as follows: 010 + 1 + phone number (including area code).
Why is this important? Well it is how my brother figured out how to call me. By adding 011 + 81 to the beginning of my phone number in the address book, he was able to initiate a Facetime call.
There is however an easier way which I figured out. In the address book on your phone when you edit the number, you’ll notice it gives you the option to add either +, *, or #. The one we care about is the plug sign.
To call the US it’s simply (plug sign) + 1 + number (including area code). So to dial a facetime user in Massachusetts it would be something like +1(978)555-1212
To call Japan it would be +81 (some long phone number).
It’s that easy. Have fun doing your international video chat. If I ever get an iPod touch I’ll do a tutorial on how to Facetime with that.
I just got the iPhone 4 myself and was wondering if it is free to use FaceTime to call to the USA? Since we are dialing a phone number, will we incur any phone charges?
Duc,
You do not incur a charge when using Facetime to contact anywhere. Facetime uses the internet to make it’s connections. Essentially the phone number is stored in a database by Apple. When your phone is on a network it tells Apple it’s IP address, and Apple then associates the IP address and phone number together. When someone calls via Facetime it first talks to Apple’s servers to get the IP address and then sends a request to your phone to talk.
what if i were to call korea? how can i find out the numbers you add before that actual cell number? how did your brother find out?
Bianca, all countries have what is called a “Country code”, Google for “South korea country code” and it will give you +82
Did you experience any time lag when talking with your brother? I’m looking into getting one of these to be able to use the Facetime funciton as I live in the UK but am from the US and all family and friends are still there. But if it’s like Skype where there is time lag between saying something and it coming through, not sure I will go for it.
You will not find a single app online that does not have some lag. Some apps have less than others. Lag happens, and a lot of it depends on the time of day you call. Whether you or your recipients ISP forces this kind of traffic to travel at slower internet speeds. You won’t find anything with 0 lag. Even good old copper land line has lag when calling overseas sometimes. I use Skype all the time from Japan. Sometimes it’s great, other times it SUCKS. But the price is right. I’ll take a little lag to be able to talk to my friends without it costing a small fortune.
My son will be studying abroad in Jan. We are going to suspend his ATT plan while he is there. Would he still be able to use FaceTime? His phone is unlocked and he plans to purchase a sim card, would he need to just for facetime? Thanks.
Hi Nancy,
Yes you son can use Facetime. Facetime requires an internet connection not a cellphone connection, therefore while on campus if connected to the school wifi, or through the data plan of a carrier overseas he should be able to log and talk with you via Facetime. Same goes with Skype.
Is FaceTime internationally free?
Hello James…I tried calling South Korea from my iPad over WiFi with this number: 10-4276-6***. I tried using your method which was 011-81-10-4276-6***. I just kept saying Facetime Failed. Am I not dialing it correctly? Any help would be grateful…thanks!
Sorry, I made a mistake…it was 011-82-10-4276-6*** but I still couldn’t get through. Any ideas? Thanks!
With facetime there are 2 ways to use it. One is calling an iPhone, the other is calling a non phone device. if you are calling another iPad or an iPod touch you would do it via that person’s email address that they have registered with Apple. If you are doing it to a phone via the iPhones phone # you need the right country code. when I call the us it’s +1-xxx-xxx-xxxx if I were in the US caling japan I expect it would be +81-xx-xxxx-xxxx not sure what south korea would be, I’ve never tried it.
hello im using facetime to call my family and Friend
Ok, so I’m confused where I put the plus signs. I’m calling from hong kong to Canada dialing 001+1604*******. Am I supposed to put plus signs anywhere else? Does it matter that I am just visiting HK and bought my iPad in Canada? I’ve tried every variation of the phn number and can’t get it to work…
Get rid of the 001, the +1 is the 001. USA and Canada are
+1 xxx – xxx – xxxx
x being the numbers in the number you are dialing. Remember the number has to be that of another iphone, not a real land line or non iPhone mobile phone. It also has to be iphone 4.0 or greater I believe.