Despite their higher-speed LTE network connection, third-generation iPads still can't make FaceTime calls over anything but WiFi. The Verge confirmed this on Wednesday night as part of the landslide of early iPad reviews, noting that attempting to make a FaceTime call over LTE shows the same error as when users try to make a call over 3G.

Apple's open source (albeit with the source code yet to be released by Apple) video chat spec first launched in 2010 with a vague promise from then-CEO Steve Jobs that it might be available over cellular data connections once the cell networks "get ready for the future." Since then, there have been plenty of rumors that the iPhone would soon gain the ability to make FaceTime calls over 3G—particularly as the launch of iOS 5 loomed last October—but it still hasn't happened. Attempting to make a FaceTime call when not connected to a WiFi network results in a pop-up that explains a WiFi network is necessary to complete the action.

There were no obvious indications to show that this would be different over LTE with the third-gen iPad, but many observers had hoped that LTE's vastly improved speeds and network capacity would translate to an ability to do more with our data connections. This is apparently not the case—not yet, that is—unless you start doing some crafty workarounds. As we pointed out recently, the Verizon iPad has hotspot capabilities that allow you to share your LTE connection over WiFi to other devices, so you could share LTE to your iPhone to make a FaceTime call that way. I have done something similar with an LTE MiFi on Verizon and an iPhone 4 out in the middle of nowhere, Kansas, and it worked surprisingly well. It's certainly a fallback solution if you're desperate to see the face of the person you're about to call.

In the meantime, the lack of (officially supported) 3G or LTE FaceTime calling leaves us feeling like FaceTime isn't getting much attention from the folks at Infinite Loop or the cell carriers lately. Doesn't anyone at AT&T or Verizon have family members with young kids who love to make video calls?