A ringtone or ring tone's the sound made by a telephone to indicate an incoming call or text message. The term's a misnomer, as it's often used to refer to any ring sound, almost all of which aren't tones. The term's most often used to refer to the customizable sounds used on mobile phones. A phone “rings” when its network indicates an incoming call and the phone thus alerts the user. For landline telephones, the call signal can be an electric current generated by the switch to whic… (More on Ringtones)