It is a simple process to download ringtones to your cell phone by text message. First, of course, you must decide what ringtones you want to purchase, how much you will pay, and from what website. You do not need to use your cell-phone company’s website to purchase ringtones—just make sure if you use a different website that your cell phone is listed as compatible with the website’s ringtones. You also need to make sure your text messaging is not blocked through your cell-phone provider, and you may be charged for the text message that delivers the ringtone to your phone.

You will be asked for your cell phone number so the website knows where the ringtone will be sent. To purchase by text message, also known as SMS—which stands for Short Message Service—choose your ringtone and it will be sent by text message to your phone. When the message appears, open it and follow the download instructions. Be sure you know where the message will be stored in your phone, such as the My Stuff or Music file. Then after it is downloaded, you can go to the file and assign the ringtone to any phone number listed in your phone’s Address Book or Contact list. You can assign the ringtone to more than one phone number, to all callers, or to only calls that show their phone number on caller ID.

You can also assign a special ringtone to numbers that have their caller ID blocked, or are listed as private numbers. If you assign a ringtone to just caller ID blocked numbers, then you know right away that the caller is blocking their caller ID, and can decide before you ever look at your phone whether you want to answer that call or not.

It can be tons of fun to be able to know who is calling by the ringtone; just a word of caution to be careful what you use for ringtones, because you never know who might be around when a ringtone sounds, but it can be a lot of fun to have unusual and unexpected ringtones just to see the reactions of people around you. So get some new ringtones, and enjoy!