The first ringtone was invented in 1994, back when most US cell phones were car mounted or Motorola brick phones that didn't even support multiple ringers! Finnish phone maker Nokia began featuring the classical work "Gran Vals" by Francisco Tarrega on its wireless phones, which became known as its standard ringtone, according to the company. The US has always lagged behind the European companies in terms of cell phone technology, primarily because the large US footprint requires major tower upgrades to support any new phones or features.

The classical melody "Gran Vals" became so popular that it became a standard ringtone in the Nokia line of cell phones. With the success of "Gran Vals", Nokia began introducing other ringtones by 1997. A major breakthrough occurred in 2002 when Nokia produced the 3510 model that supported 4-polyphonic tones. That same year, this was expanded to support 24-polyphonic tones, although this was eventually reduced to 16. By now people had the chance to customize their cell phone.

Schaumburg-based Motorola Inc. entered the market 1983 with personalization and unique alerts on their phones, including a vibrating mode. But it wasn't until 2000 when it offered its first monophonic, one-note ringtones and the ability to download more.

By 2002 Motorola matched Nokia's standard, and in 2003 Motorola offered its "triplets" phones that provided MP3 music clips.

2005 became the year that the ringback tone was created. With the ringback tone you can customize the ringing sound someone hears when they call you. Most phones support the ability to assign different ringback tones to specific people in your address book.

Today many phones support monophonic, polyphonic, and mp3 (or realtones/truetones) ringtones. Millions of cell phones are sold every year and they only come in a few basic models and colors. The only real way to customize you cell phone is to add a custom ringtone. This helps express your own personality as well as distinguish your phone ringer from others' when in a crowded room.

Full songs are now available through many different providers, all in top quality sound.

Monophonic: Monophonic ringtones are the original type of ringtones. Older phones may only have monophonic support. A monophonic ringtone is one that uses a series of beeps to create a unique sound. The beeps can vary in pitch and duration to create a familiar sound.

Polyphonic: Polyphonics ringtones are created with multiple melodies. This ringtones are more advanced that monophonic ringtones and provide better music quality. Polyphonic ringtones were adapted from MIDI sound files. For this reason they can only reproduce musical sounds, so realistic sounds such as musical vocals, sound effects, and animal noises can't be reproduced. Most new phones support polyphonic ringtones.

MP3 Tones, Realtones, Truetones or Music Tones: The most advanced type of ringtone is the mp3 ringtone, otherwise known as the realtone, music tone or truetone. Once the ringtone became a popular method of customizing your cell phone, most new phone support mp3 ringtones, real tones, true tones or music tones. These ringtones are created from real music, so they are nearly CD quality. These are the only types of ringtones that will reproduce vocal sounds and sound effects accurately.

In addition to , other top ringtones are:

Mosquito Ringtone
Fall Out Boy: This Ain't A Scene, It's an Arms Race
Justin Timberlake: My Love
Akon: Smack That
Fergie: Fergalicious
Snow Patrol: Chasing Cars
Beyonce: Irreplaceable
Rascal Flatts: Lifes A Highway

Depending on your cell carrier, different ringtone providers may apply. Not all ringtone providers have service with each carrier. When selecting a carrier, such as Cingular, Sprint, Verizon, Alltel and T-Mobile pay close attention to the types of services they offer. Custom ringtones, wallpaper and games are available for most large providers. Follow one of the above links to obtain .

Ringtones are provided by providers such as Thumbplay, Blinko, Dada, Spicymint, Funmobile, and Jamster. By selecting your carrier above, you will be directed to the provider that has the highest compatibility for you cell carrier. By entering your cell phone number, you will receive an SMS text message that will check your cell phone for ringtone compatibility. Entering the PIN number that you receive will enable mean your phone is compatible, and you can access the 10 BONUS ringtones. Below is a comparison chart of different ringtone providers.