Ringback tone

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A Ring-back Tone (RBT), or Audible Ringing Tone or Ring-back Signal, is the audible ringing that is heard on the telephone line by the calling party after dialing and prior to the call being answered at the receiving end.

[edit] Ring-back tone characteristics

The ring-back tone is different in various countries depending on the requirements for the ring-back specification in those countries. For example, in the NANP (United States, Canada, and others), the standard ring-back signal is generated by summing a 440Hz tone with a 480Hz tone and applying these to the telephone line in a 2 second on and 4 second off cadence. The tone combination produces a warbling "ring... ring..." sound, caused by the 40Hz beat between the two. Most other countries use a single tone, as do some PBX and key phone systems. In the UK and many other Commonwealth countries, it's a signature double beep, which has been made famous by being included at the end of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2." The ring-back signal may be generated by the called-party servicing switch or by the calling-party switch, but it is not generated by the called telephone instrument. It is generally started and stopped at the same rate as the ringing signal itself but perhaps out of phase.

Example of a North American ring-back tone (file info) — play in browser (beta)
- Listen to a ring-back tone from North America.
- Problems listening to the file? See media help.

59.92.38.131 08:13, 19 March 2007 (UTC)SUDHARSANAMTRANS

[edit] Personalized ring-back tone

In recent years "personalized" ring-back tones have become globally popular. With this feature, callers will hear an audio selection applied to the telephone line that has been previously determined by the called party. Audio selections can include music, messages, and special effects. Equipment is installed in the telephone network to enable replacement of the standard ring-back tone with a personalized audio selection. The application of the personalized audio selections is accomplished with a subscriber account that can be modified through WWW, WAP, SMS, or IVR user interfaces, as well as by customer care personnel.

Various companies supply personalized ring-back equipment for mobile phone and landline telephone companies. The first operator in the world to start with ring-back tones was located in Korea, but today most mobile operators offer RBT services to their customers. The first company to launch a commercial system in the United States was Preferred Voice, Inc. [1] Most global communication companies now have ringback equipment provided by several major network vendors including Comverse Technology, Ericsson, and LogicaCMG.

The majority of mobile operators provide RBT services to their customers. Some operators use a multi-country system, with one RBT system providing content and subscriber services to each country market. The most notable is Vodafone which has 18 local markets. The rollout was done with LogicaCMG doing most of the system integration, using the MyCaller system from NMS Communications as an RBT solution, although some Vodafone operators are using different platforms, such as Comverse's Fun Dial platform used by Vodafone Italy.

The use of such nonstandard telephony signals can cause problems with automatic dialing equipment such as faxes and modems, however lines intended to receive such data telephone calls normally have the proper ring-back tone. In addition, a caller may define specific users to whom the personalized content will be played. Other callers will hear the "traditional" ring-back tone.