Ring tone

A ring tone is the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call. The term is most often used to refer to the customisable sounds available on mobile phones. The facility was originally provided so that people would be able to determine when their phone was ringing when in the company of other mobile phone owners.

Related Topics:
Telephone - Mobile phone

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Ring tones are one sector of the mobile music industry.

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A phone only rings when a special "ring signal" is sent to it. For regular telephones, the ring signal is a 90-volt 20-hertz AC wave generated from the switch that the telephone is connected to. For mobile phones, the ring signal is a specific radio-frequency signal.

Related Topics:
Volt - Hertz

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An alternative to a ring tone is a vibrating alert. It is especially useful:

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• in noisy environments
• in places where ring tone noise would be disturbing
• for the hearing impaired

Ring tone advertising campaigns have become hugely popular, though they have also attracted a great deal of criticism.

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Ring tone: Types of ring tone ►