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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One thing that’s not clear is how many users are experiencing the problem — many times the status page will identify a percentage. Anecdotally, I know both me and some of my colleagues on the West Coast have had issues with iMessages sending as text messages and coming in out of order, and Twitter users from a variety of areas are complaining.

While some people may be moderately annoyed by a FaceTime outage, iMessage problems are another story. Messaging is one of the most popular and important features for mobile devices. Sure, text messages can be a backup, but people using iPad or an iPod touch without a data plan don’t have that option. And even for those with a cellular plan that comes with texting, some people are having those come in out of order (“it’s the worst,” a colleague informs me).

Any company can have a services or cloud outage — many do. But for Apple, a company with a history of problems with services and its cloud-based platform in general, today’s outage is yet another reminder of how much work it has to do.

Update: Apple’s systems status page shows that the issues with iMessage and FaceTime were resolved after just over five hours, at 5:20 p.m. PT.

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AT&T explained the decision on its corporate blog:

As a result of ongoing testing, we’re announcing AT&T will enable FaceTime over Cellular at no extra charge for customers with any tiered data plan using a compatible iOS device.

This means iPhone 4S customers with tiered plans will be able to make FaceTime calls over the AT&T cellular network.  AT&T previously made FaceTime over Cellular available to customers with a Mobile Share plan and those with an LTE device on tiered plans.

FaceTime has always been available to any subscriber for use over a Wi-Fi connection, but AT&T came under fire this summer when Apple enabled it for cell networks and the carrier said only customers who subscribed to one of its new Mobile Share plans 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.

In November, the carrier opened the service to anyone with an LTE device. Now the only AT&T customers who are still blocked from the service are those still using one of its older unlimited service plans. If you’re still grandfathered into an unlimited plan and waiting for FaceTime you may be waiting a while, however. AT&T is trying to move unlimited customers onto capped data tiers so it will be reluctant to give those customers access to a video chat service guaranteed to consume even more 3G and 4G network capacity.

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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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I tested the new Skype software on several of my Android devices, both tablets and phones, and with headphones on, the call quality did sound better. But I also ran into two issues. First, none of the microphones on my  headsets seemed to work; callers couldn’t hear me when I was using headphones so I had to revert to speakerphone use. I had callers try their headsets and they experience the same issues.

Second, there is a video problem related to screen orientation. For nearly all calls, both participants needed to hold their phone in landscape. Only one time could I actually get my client to properly switch to portrait mode in a video call. Every other time would result in one or both callers turned sideways, or even upside down. Here’s a pic my son snapped of his phone to show the issue.

Skype says the new client supports Android 2.1 devices with an 800 MHz processor or better. My test devices all easily exceeded those requirements: a Galaxy Note 2 and Nexus 7 tablet. My colleague, Stacey Higginbotham, helped me test with her relatively new Samsung Galaxy S III, while my son Tyler had the weakest test device of the bunch: A T-Mobile MyTouch Slide 4G built by HTC.

Perhaps the issues we experienced are the result of an early build or are device specific; possibly the result of Android available in so many different hardware and software configurations. As a result, the new Skype client may work fine on your Android device. And even if you do have video call issues, the voice calling experience is still quite good, provided your headset works as well.

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The new Skype application is completely redesigned for what used to be called the Metro user interface in Windows Phone 8: An elegant landscape-heavy view with large touch points for interaction. And unlike legacy versions of Skype, this edition is an “always on” experience, meaning you can receive calls or chat messages even when the application isn’t running in the background. Microsoft and Skype have also added heavy contact integration between the app and the Windows Phone 8 People hub.

Here’s a quick video overview of the new Skype application, which can be installed here, followed by some of the notable features. Bear in mind that in this preview version, the app isn’t guaranteed to work 100 percent,

• Skype contacts in the People Hub
• Login with Microsoft or Skype account
• Connect with Messenger buddies
• Always reachable
• Calls in background and call holding
• Favorite contacts
• Visual notification of call being held by remote party
• Presence in contact list

Although Microsoft will surely continue to evolve Skype for other platforms, I suspect the best Skype experience will be held back for Windows Phone handsets, much like FaceTime is being kept on Apple iOS devices. That could be an important point for people considering which platform to invest in, but I don’t anticipate it being a primary significant driver of Windows Phone 8 sales.

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After the news hit, I actually considered buying an iPad mini with cellular connectivity since many of my contacts use iOS. I bought a Wi-Fi model of the mini — it’s replacing a Retina display iPad 3 for me — and I can still return it for a different model. That idea went out the window once I realized that FaceTime is still a silo, even though at launch, Steve Jobs said Apple would work to make it a standard notes a 2010 Computerworld article:

“Apple will ship tens of millions of FaceTime devices this calendar year, so there’s going to be a lot of people to talk to. FaceTime is based on H.264 video … and a bunch of alphabet-soup acronyms. We’re going to the standards bodies tomorrow and making FaceTime an open standard.”

As one who follows some standards boards, particular those in the wireless industry, I realize that such things take time. But remember: FaceTime was introduced in June 2010 and since that time, not a single piece of information suggests that Apple is working with any standards body to open up FaceTime for use on anything but iOS or OS X. Contrast that to my other heavily used video services, which are Google video chats now done through Google+ hangouts, and Skype.

Both of these services run on every device I own, regardless of platform. That means I’m accessible at any point in time, no matter where I am, what network I’m using and what device I have. Isn’t that the point of instant communications? It’s for these reasons that I use such services. In this day and age, we all want to be connected to our friends and peers without having to worry what device those people are using.

Listen, I love FaceTime. I find it to be one of the better performing video services out there and until my son moved in with me, it’s what I used to communicate with him daily. Two-and-a-half years after FaceTime was introduced, however, I don’t want to ping him on FaceTime, hoping he has his iPod touch with him only to see no response because he’s instead using his Android phone.

I know I’m oversimplifying here, but this is akin to limiting voice calls only to work on phones made by the same company. It’s a huge step backwards in an age where we’ve seen so much forward progress and the removal of communications silos.

If I could make one request it would be this, in my best Ronald Reagan impersonation: “Mr. Cook; Tear down this wall!” Let’s get FaceTime support through open standards and let the video calls flow on all platforms and devices already.

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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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The lawyer for VirnetX claimed that Apple’s engineers didn’t bother to look and see if there were any patents covering the video calling service as they were building it: “Apple says they don’t infringe. But Apple developers testified that they didn’t pay any attention to anyone’s patents when developing their system.”

Apple representatives argued that VirnetX didn’t invent the technology at issue and “if used, is a small part of very large, complex products.”

Steve Jobs introduced FaceTime for newly launched iPhone 4 in June 2010. The service came to the Mac later that year. VirnetX’s technology was originally developed within a division of U.S.’s Central Intelligence Agency for setting up secure communications. It was later spun off from the agency as a public company.

Apple’s not the only one accused of using these patented technologies without a license. VirnetX also has cases pending against Cisco, Avaya and Siemens. It has already won a decision against Microsoft for $200 million in 2010.

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You still get FaceTime, you just can’t use it on certain networks.

In August, AT&T said it would block the video calling feature that will be found in Apple’s iPhone 5 as well as other Apple hardware that updates to iOS 6 unless customers are signed up for one of its new Mobile Shared Data plans. Customers on other plans can use FaceTime via Wi-Fi all they want, but the cellular network will be off limits.

AT&T justified this move in two ways: first it said by being open and transparent about the move it was following the rules that the FCC had implemented with regard to network neutrality on wireless networks. Two, it made a complicated argument around preloaded apps that basically boiled down to, “you can use anything you want on AT&T’s handsets over Wi-Fi, thus we aren’t blocking anything.”

Free Press, which is a network neutrality advocate, isn’t buying it. In release notifying AT&T of its intent to file (an FCC requirement) Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood offers the following quote:

“AT&T’s decision to block FaceTime unless a customer pays for voice and text minutes she doesn’t need is a clear violation of the FCC’s Open Internet rules. It’s particularly outrageous that AT&T is requiring this for iPad users, given that this device isn’t even capable of making voice calls. AT&T’s actions are incredibly harmful to all of its customers, including the deaf, immigrant families and others with relatives overseas, who depend on mobile video apps to communicate with friends and family.”

As I wrote after AT&T said it was not violating the Open Internet rules that forbid a carrier from blocking services that compete with its own services, this move is designed to do two things for AT&T. One, it pushes users to the newer shared data plans that help AT&T offset the loss in revenue from users deciding to dump texting and even voice plans. Two, it seeks to conflate Wi-Fi networks with cellular networks for purposes of abiding by the network neutrality rules.

By making Wi-Fi an equivalent of cellular, AT&T can keep traffic off its cellular network while also limiting where users can use over the top services. And while Wi-Fi networks are common, they aren’t everywhere. Verizon apparently recognizes this. The nation’s largest wireless carrier has said it will not block FaceTime on any device or on any network. Of course, Verizon does have a rather draconian plan already in place to get users to move over to its shared plans, so there you have it.

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