Rumor: iPhone iOS message points to FaceTime over 3G

It's hard to believe that Apple's FaceTime found on the iPhone 4, 4S and iPad, is almost two years old already.

And, what's more unbelievable is that the video-calling functionality still doesn't work over 3G data networks.

But judging from a new warning message recently discovered, that may not be the case for long.

Reports have surfaced that seem to indicate Apple is at least thinking about flipping the switch to allow FaceTime to work over carrier data networks.

The current Wi-Fi only feature is largely hampered by the need for a traditional broadband network, but we may see an end to this limitation soon.

iPhone's mystery message

The discovery was made quite by accident, when a user disabled the 3G data connection on their iPhone while in the middle of a FaceTime call.

"Disabling 3G may end FaceTime," a warning prompt announced. "Are you sure you want to disable 3G?"

Given that the FaceTime call was taking place over Wi-Fi, disabling 3G won't actually do anything, although attempting to re-enable 3G warns that the call will be disconnected as a result.

With anticipation running high that the next iPhone will feature 4G LTE, the time is ripe for Apple to allow FaceTime over 3G or 4G data connections - although the carriers may not quite be ready for the additional flood of data.