Ringtones are usually a melody or song that let you know there is an incoming call or text message, they are the easiest way to customize your cell phone. Most new phones will also let you create your own custom ringtones, in general downloading free cell phone ringtones is the most popular option. The internet will provide you with a larger selection of ringtones then your phone service provider.

There are three types of free cell phone ringtones that you will come across. Music ringtones, monophonic ringtones and polyphonic ringtones.

The current most popular type of ringtone are music ringtones, these can be updated often to keep up with new music that is released. Music ringtones are songs in digital audio format such as Mp3 and Wav files.

The simplest type of ringtone are monophonic ringtones they are made up of consecutive tones at different frequencies. These ringtones are available for pretty much all types of phones, even older models that don't support newer formats.

Polyphonic ringtones are a blend of tones that form a melody. This type of ringtone will only work on phones that can play sixteen tones at the same time. In general these ringtones are better quality and offer a better listening experience then monophonic ringtones.