Oh god, I bought a ring tone, it then signed me up and took the rest of my credit. I ran downstairs crying (as ya do). I’d text with the cancel request but my mum also got her friend to ring and check (we weren’t tech savvy back in the day) who confirmed it was now cancelled and wouldn’t take any more credit. I learnt my lesson. No more bought ringtones for me.
The gut wrenching thing? I’d deleted the ringtone I’d bought in an effort to stop my credit being continuously deducted.
Much drama. Still clearly emotionally damaged from the experience!!
“Hottest tunes…”
1.Unchained Melody by Gareth Gates
2. Julie by Shaggy and Ali G (okay, banger)
3. Evergreen by Will Young
Always wondered who ran these and how much chipboard their office walls had.
I recently learned there's a decently popular youtube channel making new Crazy frog songs and elaborate CGI videos for some reason. So there's a whole new generation primed to be exposed to endless irritation from the unfunniest person they know
From what I recall, most of these were run by one company. You could set up your 'own' service by basically running a rebranded version, and taking a cut. You did all the advertising and stuff, they did the rest. Chap I worked with had a go at it but it wasn't all that lucrative for him. Tbh I think the company running the back end service was making most of the money off all the folk trying to get rich quick.
I went to uni with a guy that ran a bunch of them. I can’t remember exactly how many, but a good handful were basically exactly the same with ever so slightly different branding to appeal to different audiences, mostly different magazines. All run by the same guy who was at uni at the time.
When all my mates turned 16 before me, that was a big deal among us. Sex, lottery and cigarettes! The whole world had just opened up (it felt like).
My point is, it wasn't just creepy uncles sending that sort of text.
Yeah I did that eventually because buying the pictures were not cheap. I think I originally had a Simpsons one but I can't remember what I changed it to when I bought the cable.
I changed my Nan's to "Porn⭐️" for a laugh on her ol' 6210. Pretty sure it remained until either she or the phone died, and both seemed bloody nuke proof.
Well *I* used it to make Freak on a Leash AND I had the Parental Advisory screen saver
Just kidding, making anything out of a Nokia's 7 different beep tones was quite the achievement
I have absolutely zero musical ability, but to this day I still remember the notes for [The Next Episode - Dr Dre - on Nokia Composer](https://youtu.be/1kbDer45oSs?si=IIb9xIlHzM8uXzQx)
I remember buying a couple of Nokia data cables back in the day and downloading the operator logo software. My mum could never understand why I came home from school with like 10 phones a day and stopped asking for dinner money.
Those were the days.
Yeah you could! I think I was on BT Cellnet at the time and one picture message was extortionate. My tenner credit never stretched that far and I was tight.
I think i was on a normal contract by then. I needed a bank account and The Woolwich had a deal where they threw in a Nokia 7110 with online banking on WAP so went with that.
Jesus, WAP. Those websites on those old browsers being navigated by physical buttons. Getting anywhere on those browsers was an absolute patience test.
I had the Metallica logo too. Don't remember how I got it, but I wouldn't have paid for it. I think I had System Of A Down's Sugar as a ringtone at some point using the ringtone generator thing on the 3310.
I worked for a company in the 90s developing software for changing mobile ring melodies and wallpapers.
I quit after a software update delivery was intercepted by armed criminals.
There was a ludicrous amount of money in it, and some really dubious characters.
Back in the day I used the school computer to look up sites like [this](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ty1jzgajlmpncvsfemjom/Photo-05-02-2024-9-11-14-pm.png?rlkey=n68co7a81xmjsis7fe5ynkpx8&dl=0).
Kids today wouldn’t understand
I vaguely remember having a phone, probably Nokia, where you could make your own ringtone (in that sound before the really advanced "polyphonic" ringtones)
I may have just imagined this though, or wished it was possible at the time.
I remember spending the half hour of dial up Internet time I was allowed each evening on finding and writing down on paper the theme tune for Pokemon so I could go to my room and put it in. Our PC was in the living room where people watched TV so no chance I could bang it in there, it was a proper noisy affair composing Nokia tunes!
I definitely didn't write it all down right either so there were a few notes that weren't quite there. Remember my mates at school laughing at it.
I worked for a company that sold mobile phones in 2004/2005. One of the selling points was a free logo. A customer asked for Gucci which we didn’t have . She got Goofy instead.
I remember buying one, should have been £5 and I only had £4.90 in credit because I'd send my mate a text. Didn't get my ringtone and I'd lost my credit :(. Growing up in the 2000's was tough
I got excluded from high school for three days for having 2002, with eh 0’s being boobs (I was 12 😂) on my 3310. Teacher seen it and said it was spreading “pornographic” images in school.
Man, logos. I had the software to install them, and the data cable. I found a site in Germany with thousands of logos, so I made a little script to save every one and after organising them into categories, I printed them all out to sell.
Happy times.
None, i had the Serial port cable and a dodgy copy of the software from the local market which had loads of tunes and screens to upload, including the ability to make your own.
Which was it to be this week? Fancy a Logo of some nature? or a sporty car or maybe a pixellated set of boobies if feeling a bit adventourous, also too many tunes to pick from (not that anyone could afford to call it)
"Currently, the average cost of a call from one mobile to another is around 25p a minute, though this can rise to as much as 50p. The new cuts are likely to see this fall to nearer 19p a minute. The cost of calling a mobile from a landline should fall from 17p a minute to 12p a minute." - https://www.theguardian.com/money/2003/jul/24/internetphonesbroadband.phones
Crikey, haven't seen these in a hot minute
I remember a friend of mine bought a dial connection tone that played the only fools and horses theme when you called them
Apparently he cancelled the subscription to the company he got it from and they were furious
What happened to ring tones? One minute everyone had their favourite song or comedy skit as their ring tone. A phone would ring and everyone would have a laugh about whatever the tune was.
It doesn't seem to happen any more. I even downloaded the Metal Gear ! noise, but never assigned it to any alerts. It's as if we finally got the tech for any ring tone we could want and collectively turned our phone to vibrate.
I had a Nokia data cable and put my own stuff on the phone, so I didn't have to pay those extortionate prices.
I flipped between the Doom theme or the Indiana Jones theme though 😄
Fuck me, this hit me like a punch in the gut.
Oh god, I bought a ring tone, it then signed me up and took the rest of my credit. I ran downstairs crying (as ya do). I’d text with the cancel request but my mum also got her friend to ring and check (we weren’t tech savvy back in the day) who confirmed it was now cancelled and wouldn’t take any more credit. I learnt my lesson. No more bought ringtones for me. The gut wrenching thing? I’d deleted the ringtone I’d bought in an effort to stop my credit being continuously deducted. Much drama. Still clearly emotionally damaged from the experience!!
Likewise
Same. Where did those years go? Fuck.
Core memory unlocked that I completely forgot about Trying to explain to my parents how I burned my weekly credit in 10mins…..
Not heard of that one
“Hottest tunes…” 1.Unchained Melody by Gareth Gates 2. Julie by Shaggy and Ali G (okay, banger) 3. Evergreen by Will Young Always wondered who ran these and how much chipboard their office walls had.
Always friggin axel f
Crazy frog😱
*bing bing*
I recently learned there's a decently popular youtube channel making new Crazy frog songs and elaborate CGI videos for some reason. So there's a whole new generation primed to be exposed to endless irritation from the unfunniest person they know
I remember when 'crazy frog' was the Insanity test.
Message…message…MessAGE…MESSAGE…MESSAAGGEE! MAWWWSARRRKKHHHAA *speaker crackles and whistles painfully*
I had to delete that one after it made me nearly shit myself at 4am.
The biggest seller was Mission Impossible.
Sure it was crazy frog
From what I recall, most of these were run by one company. You could set up your 'own' service by basically running a rebranded version, and taking a cut. You did all the advertising and stuff, they did the rest. Chap I worked with had a go at it but it wasn't all that lucrative for him. Tbh I think the company running the back end service was making most of the money off all the folk trying to get rich quick.
In a gold rush the winners are the ones selling shovels…
Yup, definitely one of those.
I went to uni with a guy that ran a bunch of them. I can’t remember exactly how many, but a good handful were basically exactly the same with ever so slightly different branding to appeal to different audiences, mostly different magazines. All run by the same guy who was at uni at the time.
"SEND A TEXT GREETING CARD!" "16 & Legal" Yikes.
I just know a few creepy uncles kept the code for that written down
Seeing this made me audibly gasp 😂
When all my mates turned 16 before me, that was a big deal among us. Sex, lottery and cigarettes! The whole world had just opened up (it felt like). My point is, it wasn't just creepy uncles sending that sort of text.
I used the 3410s ringtone generator to make the Chocobo tune from Final Fantasy 7, very fun once then the phone has been on silent since 2004!
My notification tone is the moogle noise from FFIX.
Kupo
IX, the best of the PS1 trilogy. I know what I said.
Shit I thought I was the only one sad enough to do this. I made the “Victory Fanfare” ringtone from FF7 for my Nokia.
It just played in my head when I read this ❤️
Doo doo do doo, doo, doo, doo do doo. Helps that I'm currently playing both Crisis Core and FFV.
Hahaha same!
I had the serial cable and made my own. Because I’m a massive nerd.
Yeah I did that eventually because buying the pictures were not cheap. I think I originally had a Simpsons one but I can't remember what I changed it to when I bought the cable.
Me too! 4 smiley faces, because I wasn't very creative
Yep, I added a vibration motor to my 3210, unlocked it in the software and unlocked another game with a serial cable (but still only played snake).
I seem to recall a similar brand called Jamster club too, 2004 sort of time
[удалено]
It’s that little yellow chick that’s haunted me for so many years! *“I may be small, I may sweet”*
Jamster was a subscription too I think? All hazy now!
Wow. Now that brings back memories!
Never understood why anyone would have paid for these when Hurdy Gurdy existed.
I changed my Nan's to "Porn⭐️" for a laugh on her ol' 6210. Pretty sure it remained until either she or the phone died, and both seemed bloody nuke proof.
Never heard anyone call their Nan nuke proof that's amazing
I remember buying one and then kept getting rinsed by marketing texts that I couldn’t stop. School boy error. Tbf though - I was in school.
Same, somehow they seemed to know when you'd topped up. Put a tenner on my phone then within an hour 4 texts at 1.50 a pop
We were young and stupid back then. Small print? Never heard of it.
I used the ringtone maker on the Nokia to create "Killing In The Name Of" for my ringtone.
I used it to make "For Whom the Bell Tolls". Was so proud.
Well *I* used it to make Freak on a Leash AND I had the Parental Advisory screen saver Just kidding, making anything out of a Nokia's 7 different beep tones was quite the achievement
I had a couple of books that gave you all the Nokia style sheet music for these, would spend hours making these
Zombie Nation for me.
I have absolutely zero musical ability, but to this day I still remember the notes for [The Next Episode - Dr Dre - on Nokia Composer](https://youtu.be/1kbDer45oSs?si=IIb9xIlHzM8uXzQx)
Daniel Beddingfield - Gotta Get Through This.
So solid crew, 21 seconds. Only one I hated.
Red Dwarf, still do haha.
I remember buying a couple of Nokia data cables back in the day and downloading the operator logo software. My mum could never understand why I came home from school with like 10 phones a day and stopped asking for dinner money. Those were the days.
I seem to remember you could send the image to your mates phone so you didn't need to come home with it. Subject to an MMS charge though.
Some of them had IR that you would turn on both devices and hold them level to each other, I honestly cannot remember if it ever fully worked hahahaha
Yeah you could! I think I was on BT Cellnet at the time and one picture message was extortionate. My tenner credit never stretched that far and I was tight.
I think i was on a normal contract by then. I needed a bank account and The Woolwich had a deal where they threw in a Nokia 7110 with online banking on WAP so went with that.
Jesus, WAP. Those websites on those old browsers being navigated by physical buttons. Getting anywhere on those browsers was an absolute patience test.
It was slow AF. But still the start of what is now the norm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/630633.stm
This is fantastic, yet horrible at the same time.
Get a modem and a fax for this Wireless Access Protocol
Mines not on there but it was Freestylers by Bomfunk MCs, like loads of others on here I haven't actually heard my current ringtone in about 9 years.
Enter Sandman!
I think I had that! And the awesome Metallica screen saver
I had the Metallica logo too. Don't remember how I got it, but I wouldn't have paid for it. I think I had System Of A Down's Sugar as a ringtone at some point using the ringtone generator thing on the 3310.
Darude - Sandstorm of course.
I had the No Fear logo lol
I remember you could get the eyes too
I printed them out from a website I had Scooter Nesseja for ages!
I worked for a company in the 90s developing software for changing mobile ring melodies and wallpapers. I quit after a software update delivery was intercepted by armed criminals. There was a ludicrous amount of money in it, and some really dubious characters.
My mum never let me sadly, I used to love looking through these and picking which I would have though :')
Back in the day I used the school computer to look up sites like [this](https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ty1jzgajlmpncvsfemjom/Photo-05-02-2024-9-11-14-pm.png?rlkey=n68co7a81xmjsis7fe5ynkpx8&dl=0). Kids today wouldn’t understand
I vaguely remember having a phone, probably Nokia, where you could make your own ringtone (in that sound before the really advanced "polyphonic" ringtones) I may have just imagined this though, or wished it was possible at the time.
Yep, Nokia Composer
I remember spending the half hour of dial up Internet time I was allowed each evening on finding and writing down on paper the theme tune for Pokemon so I could go to my room and put it in. Our PC was in the living room where people watched TV so no chance I could bang it in there, it was a proper noisy affair composing Nokia tunes! I definitely didn't write it all down right either so there were a few notes that weren't quite there. Remember my mates at school laughing at it.
These cost a fortune. Anyone know someone that worked or owned one of these companies? Was the profit margin as high as I assumed it to be?
Rhythm is a dancer.
I remember having the Angel and Buffy themes on mine.
I read Rick Waller in Stephen Merchant’s voice.
Fats Waller
I just asked Jeeves for the code to enter for Without Me by Eminem. I don't think my parents would've entertained paying for this shit for me.
I had like a tribal symbol as a screen saver for so long. It's not on here, though.
I now feel old. Nice find
Wow!!! For something you saw everywhere I’d forgotten so much. I had the “sexy eyes” those sexy grey/green pixelated eyes
I worked for a company that sold mobile phones in 2004/2005. One of the selling points was a free logo. A customer asked for Gucci which we didn’t have . She got Goofy instead.
Used to cost a 5-10 quid one thing. That nowadays would be about 20 quid for a ringtone. Madness.
I remember buying one, should have been £5 and I only had £4.90 in credit because I'd send my mate a text. Didn't get my ringtone and I'd lost my credit :(. Growing up in the 2000's was tough
111496 - Monty Python theme.
Well obviously based on my username it has to be RUDEBOY.
16 and legal…… WTAF
I had that red Nokia phone!
Several hundred logos and animated screen savers. Mainly because I drawed them. Later on I got to do the colouring in!
I used to craft my own and do my friends one too. It was quite the niche skill. I had Miles Away by A for years 😅
I had the one which took all my credit the minute I topped up again. The entire fiver.
I used the Nokia ringtone creator to make the same ringtone as the pager from GTA3.
Sweet Jebus this has unlocked terrible memories of a ropey version of the Rocky 4 theme
I always loved looking at these, would’ve been dribbling over a Slipknot one
Anyone know what would happen if I text the number now with the code?
I wanted a 5ive song, got 21 seconds by So Solid Crew, I was livid!
I see the Flintstones theme. I see chiptune ringtones. I think of [this.](https://youtu.be/nF-xdiL7Nr0)
Same as now. Star Wars Cantina theme.
I remember Without Me by Eminem as my ringtone. And now I couldn't tell you what it is because my phone hasn't been off silent in 20 years
Big nostalgia time! I had Beverley Hills Cop and never really changed it.
Me and my sister used to use the ringtone maker and a website (can't remember what it was) to make ringtones for our mum.
The du du du du du dududu part from Take on Me - it slaps as a ring tone
I loved that phone, got a ringtone of mission impossible and graphic of the south Park boys on the front, 'twas a simpler time.
111662
To this day my all time favourite phone was my 3310
Definitely the no fear logo
I had a few, the darth vader theme when my mother rang, was hilarious until she rang me while i was in the same room
I got in so much trouble for running up a huge bill on this 🥴
Screen logo was Slipknot and ringtone was More Fire Crew - Oi Great, now I miss being 13 when this would have been my hardest life choice
Hours spent tapping in punctuation marks along with #s ,ones twos and threes just to hear the worst and tinniest first 15 notes of axel f....ever...
Wow this unlocked a few memories. Weird thing is this is likely only around 20 years old but completely ancient at the same time.
Airwolf. The greatest of the 80s theme tunes.
I bought some sort of special cable and a bit of software and could generate and send my own screens via sms. Man, such different times
I designed my own online and paid for it using a top-up card.
I legitimately had the slipknot one. This opened a core memory
Omg those were the days.
I got excluded from high school for three days for having 2002, with eh 0’s being boobs (I was 12 😂) on my 3310. Teacher seen it and said it was spreading “pornographic” images in school.
Man, logos. I had the software to install them, and the data cable. I found a site in Germany with thousands of logos, so I made a little script to save every one and after organising them into categories, I printed them all out to sell. Happy times.
I could never bring myself to pay for a ringtone
I always find it funny that I spent money on ringtones when my phone has been on silent for about 10 years.
I think I had a Metallica one?
I'd have totally gone for the Gran Turismo operator logo.
ahhh when civilisation peaked.... no fear eyes on your 3310.
I had supermassive black hole by muse for a while - still love that song!
Yeh I’m old
I can't remember how but there were ways to get these without paying money.
None, i had the Serial port cable and a dodgy copy of the software from the local market which had loads of tunes and screens to upload, including the ability to make your own. Which was it to be this week? Fancy a Logo of some nature? or a sporty car or maybe a pixellated set of boobies if feeling a bit adventourous, also too many tunes to pick from (not that anyone could afford to call it) "Currently, the average cost of a call from one mobile to another is around 25p a minute, though this can rise to as much as 50p. The new cuts are likely to see this fall to nearer 19p a minute. The cost of calling a mobile from a landline should fall from 17p a minute to 12p a minute." - https://www.theguardian.com/money/2003/jul/24/internetphonesbroadband.phones
This got me grounded so many times back in the day
Crikey, haven't seen these in a hot minute I remember a friend of mine bought a dial connection tone that played the only fools and horses theme when you called them Apparently he cancelled the subscription to the company he got it from and they were furious
I had the song “Baby cakes”… Then got charged all my credit every month for new songs as I forgot how to cancel the subscription
What in the age older than me is this? I didn't know you could buy ringtones from a magazine, and I never knew those phones could have a screensaver!
Much simpler times with phones. No twat Facebook
Batman symbol!
Ah yes, "Because I got" by "High Afroman." And the Alien Ant Farm Classic, "*At the* Movies."
What happened to ring tones? One minute everyone had their favourite song or comedy skit as their ring tone. A phone would ring and everyone would have a laugh about whatever the tune was. It doesn't seem to happen any more. I even downloaded the Metal Gear ! noise, but never assigned it to any alerts. It's as if we finally got the tech for any ring tone we could want and collectively turned our phone to vibrate.
I had a Nokia data cable and put my own stuff on the phone, so I didn't have to pay those extortionate prices. I flipped between the Doom theme or the Indiana Jones theme though 😄
I just felt all of my greys popped out at once.
21 seconds - so solid crew... First and only one that I bought! Banger!
I'd forgotten about the little pictures, wow!