AT&T’s statement to the Verge on Monday notes that “by mid-June, we’ll have enabled those apps over cellular for our unlimited plan customers who have LTE devices from [Apple, Samsung and BlackBerry].” Besides FaceTime, Samsung and BlackBerry’s pre-installed video chat apps will also be included.

And more will be coming for all of its customers before the end of the year: “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.”

When Apple updated its mobile video chat app to work over cellular last summer, AT&T came under fire when it announced subsequently that only customers who subscribed to one of its Mobile Share plans could use it. Several open internet groups threatened to file complaints with the FCC, calling the carrier’s policy a violation of net neutrality. Several months later, AT&T opened the service to anyone with an LTE device.

Based on broadness of the statement, it sounds like video chat apps like Google’s new Hangouts app, which is available over AT&T’s cellular network now for some iOS customers, will work over cellular for Android customers later on this year.

This post was updated on 5/21 to clarify that the iOS version of Google Hangouts is available for use over cellular networks now.

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An AT&T customer with an iPhone 4S and an unlimited plan posted his own experience to a MacRumors forum. He said he noticed the FaceTime over cellular toggle switch in his Settings menu was flipped to “on” after restarting his phone. Other customers have seen the same thing. Still, it’s not clear if this is a staged rollout to more customers or a glitch.

I have a grandfathered unlimited plan from AT&T and an iPhone 5. I too saw that my FaceTime over cellular service was switched to “on” this morning after restarting my phone. But when I checked the Settings menu again just a few minutes later, it had reverted to “off.” I tried restarting my phone again to see if I could get FaceTime over cellular to come back on, but I had no such luck.

This would be yet another step in the evolution of AT&T’s stance on FaceTime over cellular. After Apple announced that iOS 6 would enable FaceTime to work over cellular connections in addition to Wi-Fi, AT&T said it would only extend the service to any customers that signed up for one of its new Mobile Shared Data plans. This raised the ire of many customers and AT&T was threatened with a net neutrality complaint filed with the FCC.

The carrier then relented earlier this month, saying that in addition to customers with shared data plans, it would also open FaceTime over cellular to those with tiered data plans using an LTE-capable iPhone with iOS 6. That rollout was supposed to take eight to 10 weeks.

I reached out to AT&T for clarification about what’s going on, but have yet to hear back.

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FaceTime has always been available to any subscriber for use over a Wi-Fi connection, but the carrier had come under fire this summer when Apple enabled it for cell networks and AT&T said only customers who subscribed to a new Mobile Share plan could use it. Several open internet groups threatened to file complaints with the FCC, saying AT&T’s action was a violation of net neutrality.

AT&T had initially argued that it wasn’t violating net neutrality; that it wasn’t blocking the use of the FaceTime app technically because any iPhone customer could still use it over Wi-Fi. It said it was simply “allowing more data access.”

A note from AT&T’s head of legislative affairs, Jim Cicconi, on the company’s policy blog explained the change of heart. He said the carrier was being “cautious” when Apple first released iOS 6 with the ability to make FaceTime calls over cellular because of an anticipated overload of activity on its cellular network:

“In this instance, with the FaceTime app already preloaded on tens of millions of AT&T customers’ iPhones, there was no way for our engineers to effectively model usage, and thus to assess network impact. It is for this reason that we took a more cautious approach toward the app. To do otherwise might have risked an adverse impact on the services our customers expect — voice quality in particular — if usage of FaceTime exceeded expectations.  And this is important for all our customers regardless of which smartphone they may use.”

The company’s reversal won it halting praise from one of the groups that had opposed AT&T’s previous policy. “AT&T simply can’t justify blocking an app that competes with its voice and texting services unless customers purchase a more expensive monthly plan that includes an unlimited amount of those very same services,” Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood said in a statement. “AT&T’s course correction is a move in the right direction, but until the company makes FaceTime available to all of its customers it is still in violation of the FCC’s rules and the broader principles of Net Neutrality.”

Also on Thursday, AT&T said that deaf and hard of hearing customers with text and data-only customers would also be able to use FaceTime.

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