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Indeed! Verizon, a carrier in the US, actually made a product out of this by allowing people to buy what they branded "Ringback Tones" which would play some son

Indeed! Verizon, a carrier in the US, actually made a product out of this by allowing people to buy what they branded "Ringback Tones" which would play some song or tune when someone called your number and you hadn't picked up yet. Not sure if it's still a thing.

netheril96 9y ago
The ringback tones were immensely popular in China. Nowadays it has faded in popularity.
- sk0g 9y ago
  Same thing in India, though I was there a while ago. People seemed to love setting it to the some song from a recent movie. It was about a dollar a month, decent income for the telcos, I'd imagine.
kalleboo 9y ago
They were pushed heavily by operators in (parts of?) Europe in the mid 2000's, back when every other TV ad was for Jamba ringtones. I was on the operator "Three" and they let you set your ringback tone to "3 Is A Magic Number" for free much to the chagrin of absolutely everyone who called me.
bjterry 9y ago
I have a friend who works at Verizon and still has a ringback tone.
tnecniv 9y ago
You can still get them, they just hide them away in a corner of Verizon's site now.
mrkgnao 9y ago
They're called "caller tunes" in India. Used to be really popular a few years ago. Now they're a bit less common.
pmorici 9y ago
They are. All those Emergency numbers you call to see if school is canceled are really ringback tones. It's how many people can call at once to receive the message w/o hearing a busy tone.
- TheAdamist 9y ago
  I never would have thought of that but it makes sense
- alanh 9y ago
  > how many people can call at once to receive the message w/o hearing a busy tone. And yet, by calling the same (typically toll-free) number, a call center's worth of support calls can be handled simultaneously. Implementing this as ringbacks would not seem to be the only way.
  - pmorici 9y ago
    Well, of course if you are willing to pay the phone company for multiple lines and install an expensive phone system you can waste a tone of money doing it other ways.
vultour 9y ago
They do this pretty much everywhere.

netheril96 9y ago

The ringback tones were immensely popular in China. Nowadays it has faded in popularity.

sk0g 9y ago
Same thing in India, though I was there a while ago. People seemed to love setting it to the some song from a recent movie. It was about a dollar a month, decent income for the telcos, I'd imagine.

kalleboo 9y ago

They were pushed heavily by operators in (parts of?) Europe in the mid 2000's, back when every other TV ad was for Jamba ringtones. I was on the operator "Three" and they let you set your ringback tone to "3 Is A Magic Number" for free much to the chagrin of absolutely everyone who called me.

bjterry 9y ago

I have a friend who works at Verizon and still has a ringback tone.

tnecniv 9y ago

You can still get them, they just hide them away in a corner of Verizon's site now.

mrkgnao 9y ago

They're called "caller tunes" in India. Used to be really popular a few years ago. Now they're a bit less common.

pmorici 9y ago

They are. All those Emergency numbers you call to see if school is canceled are really ringback tones. It's how many people can call at once to receive the message w/o hearing a busy tone.

TheAdamist 9y ago
I never would have thought of that but it makes sense
alanh 9y ago
> how many people can call at once to receive the message w/o hearing a busy tone. And yet, by calling the same (typically toll-free) number, a call center's worth of support calls can be handled simultaneously. Implementing this as ringbacks would not seem to be the only way.
- pmorici 9y ago
  Well, of course if you are willing to pay the phone company for multiple lines and install an expensive phone system you can waste a tone of money doing it other ways.

vultour 9y ago

They do this pretty much everywhere.