9th July 2009

Tenants and Their Ringback Tones

posted in Care and Feeding of Tenants |

So I’m sure that at some point you have heard a “ringback tone” while calling someone’s cell phone.  A ringback tone allows a mobile user to personalize the ringing sound that their caller hears when dialing their cell phone number. Instead of hearing the familiar ringing sound until they answer, you will hear for instance, a song by Justin Timberlake or, god forbid, Britney Spears or some pre-recorded message.

WTH?!

Is it just me or is that not the most annoying cell phone “feature” to be offered by a wireless carrier?

Apparently, this feature was first offered by a South Korean wireless provider and it was so popular that they had to scramble to keep up with the demand for it. Why, I have no idea.

As a landlord, when I call a tenant’s cell phone and hear Britney Spears trying to sound like Eartha Kitt (Catwoman in the original Batman TV series) I immediately feel like hanging up and sending a letter instead.

Also, it seems that they’re not even smart enough to know that an appropriate use of a ringback tone would be to have it play when their friends are calling and not when anyone is calling. Duh.

My favorite is when they setup a “custom” ringback tone which consists of them recording their favorite song, via the cell phone, by holding it up to a speaker pushed way beyond its limit. Now THAT’s enjoyable!!

There are currently 4 responses to “Tenants and Their Ringback Tones”

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  1. 1 On July 9th, 2009, Jessica Hickok said:

    What about Nelly’s “It’s Gettin’ Hot In Heeerrre”?? It makes me want to throw up when I hear that ringback tone on one of our tenant’s numbers. Nicely written post, I love it!

  2. 2 On July 11th, 2009, Meg said:

    I totally agree!! I have never heard anybody with this feature on their phone EXCEPT most of my tenants. At first I thought the phone was malfunctioning and almost hung up. It’s always some fuzzy ghetto rap music too (at least in my experience). Ugh.

  3. 3 On August 23rd, 2009, George C. Torres said:

    Why is it that only my low-income and Section 8 tenants have this noise? Aren’t these supposed to be the people most in need? Yet they purchase this garbage?

  4. 4 On August 23rd, 2009, TheLandlord said:

    Exactly George! My point exactly. In fact, the other day, I was returning the call of a potential tenant, heard a ringback tone and promptly hung up.

    I think I feel a new blog post coming on.

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