Free Ringback Tones
How To Get Ringback Tones Free For Many Cellular Phones
Ringback tones are special personalization features for Verizon Wireless customers that allow a customer to replace the standard ringing sound that a caller hears as they wait for the person on the other end to answer.
Ringback tones go by different names on different carriers, but regardless of the specific cellular provider free ringback tones are very few and far between. Unfortunately, for Verizon users at the present time there are no free ringback tones being made available by that company. For other cell phone users such as Sprint, there are several free ringback tones available to choose from.
Why Do So Few Carriers Provide Free Ringback Tones?
It is important to remember that ringback tones are fundamentally different than standard ringtones. A ringtone that is played to inform a user of an incoming call is purchased, downloaded, and stored on the individual phone. In contrast, ringback tones are stored on the network servers rather than inside an individual phone.
When the network receives a call request it first checks to see if a ringback tone has been assigned and if so begins to play it until the person being called picks up. It is because of this network storage and maintenance that cellular providers charge an additional monthly service access fee for those that wish to use the ringback functionality.
Providers That Have Free Ringback Tones
As mentioned previously the only major cellular provider that currently offers free ringback tones is Sprint and they have a very limited selection of only four tones. However, many other companies provide these tones for as little as $.99 each.
AT&T and Cingular Wireless provide package deals with bundles of tones from various artists for as little as $9.99, but these tones expire after a certain period of time and must be renewed. Virgin Mobile also provides package deals but these bundles of ringback tones must be renewed monthly.
Even Free Ringback Tones Are Not Really Free
Remember that even if a customer finds a free ringback tone in the provider's online store it is still very likely that the customer must commit to a small recurring monthly fee in order to access and use the ringback features of the account. For most providers this charge is $1.99 per month although Virgin Mobile is less at $1.49 per month. Even the free answer tones provided by Sprint still require the user to pay this recurring monthly fee.
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