Talk:ring tone

Earliest Usenet uses via Google Groups:

• ring tone': net.consumers - 14 Aug 1984 by T C Wheeler

  Another feature is that there is a different ring tone for each code so that you will know who is calling.

• ring tones: comp.dcom.telecom - 12 Jul 1989 by Dave Levenson

  If no recording is provided, most ACD equipment will generate ring tones, even though the call has been answered.

• ringtone: comp.dcom.telecom - 21 Dec 1993 by goldstein

  Thus ringtone, busy, and announcements are "free".

• RingTone (in computer code): comp.lang.functional - 12 May 1994 by Leonard Pruitt

  RingTone (B,on); % from A

• ringtones: aus.comms - 7 May 1997 by PhoneMan

  Features are similar however some neat little programming options ala the star tac selectable menu's and variable/programmable ringtones make it more featured and ultimately easier to use.

• ringtone's (incorrect plural): alt.cellular.nokia - 27 May 1999 by Gerard F.Henninger

  (in title) Ringtone's + logo's

  What kind of logo's or ringtone's you want. It is only possible to store one ringtone.

• ring tone's (possibly possessive): alt.cellular.nokia - 14 Oct 1999 by WereWolf

  I've updated the section on my site of the images disigned for WinTesla and the ring tone's section ...

• ringtone's (possessive): alt.cellular.nokia - 6 Apr 2000 by Bernard Steele

  i upgraded mine cause it was a bit buggy 4.80 also has some bugs but irons out the wap connection problem. also changes the "Grande valse" ringtone's name to "Nokia tune".

— Hippietrail 09:16, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

RFV discussion: July–August 2020

This entry has survived Wiktionary's verification process (permalink).

Please do not re-nominate for verification without comprehensive reasons for doing so.

---

ringtone

It was defined as "the sound made by a telephone when ringing, especially the customizable tone of a mobile phone". I have now split this into two senses, and am challenging the first one. I think ringtones are only the mobile phone thing, and never the built-in unchangeable sound of a land line, right? Equinox ◑ 19:20, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

I don't think the landline/mobile distinction is relevant. My landline phone has a customizable ringtone. —Mahāgaja · talk 19:22, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

The current definition ("sound made by a telephone when ringing") would cover those ancient upright phones with a mechanical bell. Is that a ringtone? Equinox ◑ 19:44, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

I don't know. My instinct says no, but I am finding a few hits for "ringtone" at b.g.c that predate the cellphone era. However, most of them seem to appear in the phrase ringtone oscillator, and I don't know what that is. —Mahāgaja · talk 21:30, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

I don't remember hearing ringtone to mean the sound of a phone ringing until approximately 20 years ago when the sound of a mobile phone became customizable. Vox Sciurorum (talk) 21:40, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

Just checked OED and they also distinguish the two senses; sense 1 has citations from 1921, '37, '74, '82, 2006, but all such cites are for a two-word "ring tone", not the single word. Equinox ◑ 21:47, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

And it would be pronounced differently with a few extra milliseconds between syllables and without the shift of accent to the front that English compounds develop. Vox Sciurorum (talk) 22:48, 5 July 2020 (UTC)

If anyone is still looking for the ringtone oscillator, a diagraom of one can be found at Figure 1 in [1] PDF file. This 1972 patent also describes it as an acoustic generator [2]

-- 70.51.44.93 05:45, 25 July 2020 (UTC)

cited Kiwima (talk) 22:00, 10 August 2020 (UTC)

RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 23:17, 17 August 2020 (UTC)