Cell phones are not just for communicating anymore, they are a fashion accessory and a statement of who you are! Phones come in a variety of colors and with designs etched into the metal case; you can buy covers, skins, and dangling jewelry for your phone. Along these lines come ring and call back tones… It is the ultimate statement of your personality when your friend calls (or texts) and a personalized song for them plays, and then another, and another, and another. Each call shows your individualism and lets you know who is contacting you without even looking. Ring tones are not a trend that will fade fast, if ever. Every cellular company offers ring tones that vary from favorite sound clips from movies, television shows, and comedy acts, to any song clip imaginable from Tony Bennett classics to Akon’s newest single. You can individualize the ring tone and the style to each caller that you have. Leave it for a few weeks (or days), then change it all up again.

SouthernLINC Wireless offers a very wide selection of ring tones for a $1.99 with unlimited use. They offer a wide array of ring tone categories to chose from, such as: Blues, Christian/Gospel, Classical, Comedy/Miscellaneous, Contemporary, Country, Disco, Electronica, Fight Songs, Folk/Traditional, Funny Sounds, Holiday, Jazz, Latin, Nation Athems, New Age/World, Pop, Rap/Hip Hop, R&B/Soul, Reggae, Rock, Soundtracks, and Video Games. Your phone can play the theme song to Tetris or The Dukes of Hazards at the drop of a hat. With such options, making your cell phone truly yours is a breeze…you just have to decide what songs work for which people. Acquiring the ringtones is also a snap. You just log onto the website, search the song, or browse by the categories and listen to the samples of the songs. When you have decided on one, you just press the “Get it Now” icon and the computer will prompt you to add your cell phone number and verify information with you, the ring tone will then be sent to your phone as a message, it will download when you open it and the song will save to your phone. You then can go and assign that song as your basic ring tone that will sound when anyone calls, or to a specific person depending on your cell phones capabilities.

Sprint calls their ring tones, Ringers and they often offer a free Ringer as a promotion, because once you have one, you want more and more! Sprint’s ring tone site is called the Digital Lounge and it looks more like a CD store than a cell phone service. You can look for songs by title, by artist, or by browsing album covers (in case you know the look of the album but not the name of the artist or song). You can also search by the most popular searches or by the top downloads. They have a section of Famous Voices where Donald Trump or Hulk Hogan will speak when your phone rings, not only telling you to answer it, but cracking jokes, or just repeating famous quotes such as, “You’re Fired!” by the Donald. The Ringers are $2.50 at Sprint’s Digital Lounge. But there is a huge selection and the quality of the rings is guaranteed. As on Southernlinc.com you can select ring tones to sample, and when you are ready to purchase, you log onto your account, add them to your basket and make the purchase. On Sprint.com the price of your ringtones will be added to your monthly bill. Making the purchase quick and painless, but potentially causing a shock when your bill arrives with 24 new ring tones. You do need to be a Sprint customer to purchase ring tones from them.

T-Mobile offers a variety of different ring tones. They have Megatones which are instrumental versions of songs, HiFi Ringers that are clips taken from the actual songs, and Voices & Sounds where they offer sound effects like dog’s barking in a tune, a turkey gobble, or celebrity voices with messages related to cell phone calls, and sometimes not. The HiFi Ringers are the closest to the ring tones that the other companies supply. The T-Mobile charge is $2.49 a song. However, you do need to be a T-Mobile subscriber to access and listen to their selection of ring tones.

The Verizon Wireless ring tone site, much like the Sprint site, is filled with information on the artists and the albums that the songs come from, as well as suggesting songs by the songs you have viewed. You can search by most popular, most downloaded, by artist, or by genre. The cost for the ring tones is $2.99. The same process of listening to the song, adding it to your cart, then agreeing to purchase and the fee will be added to your monthly bill is used by Verizon. However, the price for each ring tone is not noted right next to the song like on the other sites and you actually have to search to find out how much you will be paying. Cell phones purchased by Verizon Wireless come with a built in block from allowing you to download ringtones or sounds on your own. Trying to get around this block has caused the phones to stop working, forcing the person to purchase a new phone. So beware trying to deprogram the Verizon programming.

AT&T, formerly Cingular, offers Ring tones on their website like many of the other sites, they have them listed by artist, by genre, by song, or by searching for a specific tone. They are $2.49 a song, and can be sampled and purchased online which automatically adds them to your monthly bill. The AT&T site is much more simple than the Sprint site. It is easy to use and effective. Songs can be sampled and purchased without the clutter of the album or artist picture or biography as on the Sprint site. However, allows Motorolla Mobile Phone Tools disc to be used with AT&T service. This is a special disc that you use with certain cell phones that will allow you to make and import your own ring tones and pictures to your phone directly from your computer. The AT&T software, in conjunction with your computer’s capabilities make ring tones with your own music or audio possible. The software also allows you to import your own pictures to personalize your phone. This software gives you the opportunity to make your phone truly yours, have your family and friends create their own ring tones. The possibilities are limitless!

There is also another option to ring tones that has become very popular and that is independent ring tone sites like ringotone.com, thumbplay.com, or ringtonejukebox.com. These sites offer similar products to all the major carriers, but they have a more competitive price. Some charge a monthly fee for a set or unlimited number of ring tones sent directly to your phone, others have a flat fee per tone but the prices are usually more competitive, prices range from .49 cents for the basic music only ring tones to $1.50 for the actual samples of the songs. This can be a substantial savings depending on your carrier. Most of these companies do not have deals with the big music companies, so the newer “hot” songs and artists may not be available at the saem time that they are on the major cellular carrier sites. But for older or more obscure songs and sound clips, this may be the right route.

There are restrictions on certain phones that do not allow for the playing of ring tones. Older phones without the music compatibilities of newer phones and phones that are not able to receive text messages will not be able to support ring tones. But most new phones sold or given away with new contract plans are able to support the downloading and playing of ring tones.

Please visit Southernlinc Cell Phone Ring Tones for more information.

Pricing may change at any time, For actual up to date pricing of ring tones by carrier, consult the carrier’s website.