Ringtones + Cingular

July 15, 2007 4:53 PM

How do I add a custom ringtone to a AT&T (Cingular) 3100 Smartphone?

My dad bought one of these phones and wants to add a Sousa march (clip or MIDI file) that he had on his old phone. Any chance of doing this without paying Cingular or a monthly subscription service an obscene amount for the "privilege"?

posted by Blazecock Pileon to technology (5 comments total)

You should be able to transfer them on with a data cable (I do not have your phone, either the phone manual or the software manual for the data cable software should tell you ahead of time). Also if you can find the software on the manufacturers site (highly unlikely with a modern phone) you can get a knockoff cord on eBay and save some money. Otherwise your Cingulatt store can sell you a cable.

If your phone supports an extra memory card, you can possibly also transfer things that way (the RAZR V3xx, for example, loves this, but of course you should read your manual). You generally don't need to buy extra software for this method, just a memory card and a card reader for your computer if you lack one. Makes it a bit cheaper.
posted by anaelith at 5:20 PM on July 15, 2007

I have a low-end Sony Ericsson phone. I used a this site to send a midi file to my phone. You upload a midi file, and it sends it as a multimedia message (mms) to the phone. From there I was able to save it and set it as a ringtone.

The only cost was the charge for the message.
posted by O9scar at 7:29 PM on July 15, 2007

I have the Cingular 3100, a USB cable came in the box. Install activesync, and drag and drop the file in Windows Explorer. I use an mp3 for a ringtone, and it took about 5 seconds to do.
posted by blue_beetle at 8:22 PM on July 15, 2007

Thanks, blue_beetle. Do you know which directory to use, and what constraints there are on the MP3 specs?
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 10:11 PM on July 15, 2007

I don't know what the mp3 limits are, but my ringtone is >128kbps and about 30 seconds long [3MB] (I edited it for storage size, not any other limitation), and it's in the root directory. I think as long as your media player on the phone can see it, you can use it as a ringtone.
posted by blue_beetle at 9:54 PM on July 16, 2007