Ringtone length discrepency...
Hello everyone,
I just wanted to get some unfortunate info out there for my fellow iPhone users regarding the ringtone length. Basically in all of Apple's iPhone/ringtone info including garagebands ringtone generator the max length for a ringtone is 40 seconds. You can create a ringtone and send it to your phone via Garageband/iTunes and this works great. Once on your phone it will even play back the entire ringtone when you select it in the phone preferences...HOWEVER, when someone actually calls you it will only play 20 seconds and then cut off before jumping to the voicemail!
After calling Apple tech support, who sent me to AT&T this is the answer: all iPhones have an automatic default ring length of 20 seconds and is controlled by AT&T! This can be extended to 30 seconds ONLY IF you call the AT&T's tech support and request it! This is really lame (my old Verizon phone allowed me to vary my ring lengths before voicemail pick-up on my phone itself = much better, thank you Verizon).
When I explained that Apple has told us (and built into Garageband's ringtone generator) that the ring length can have a maximum of 40 seconds, the tech support person replied that "ringtone playback and ringtone length are two different things..." I then explained to her that it does not really matter if my playback time is 40 seconds if all AT&T will allow me to hear will be 20 (or 30 seconds by request)...needless to say this is where we left it.
So, until AT&T will allow you the full 40 seconds, ignore what Apple is telling us and only allow your custom ringtones to have a maximum of 30 seconds (Oh, and don't forget to call AT&T to get the precious 10 second extension before voicemail picks-up)!
For many this shorter ringtone playback length is not a big deal, but I often need the extra time to get my phone out of my backpack or just get it before it stops ringing. At this point I am averaging a 50% successful pick-up rate to beat the voicemail!...:-)
Hopefull this information will help someone else to not have to redo 4 custom ringtones that were made at 39 seconds each!
Other then that I love my phone!
Take care.
I just wanted to get some unfortunate info out there for my fellow iPhone users regarding the ringtone length. Basically in all of Apple's iPhone/ringtone info including garagebands ringtone generator the max length for a ringtone is 40 seconds. You can create a ringtone and send it to your phone via Garageband/iTunes and this works great. Once on your phone it will even play back the entire ringtone when you select it in the phone preferences...HOWEVER, when someone actually calls you it will only play 20 seconds and then cut off before jumping to the voicemail!
After calling Apple tech support, who sent me to AT&T this is the answer: all iPhones have an automatic default ring length of 20 seconds and is controlled by AT&T! This can be extended to 30 seconds ONLY IF you call the AT&T's tech support and request it! This is really lame (my old Verizon phone allowed me to vary my ring lengths before voicemail pick-up on my phone itself = much better, thank you Verizon).
When I explained that Apple has told us (and built into Garageband's ringtone generator) that the ring length can have a maximum of 40 seconds, the tech support person replied that "ringtone playback and ringtone length are two different things..." I then explained to her that it does not really matter if my playback time is 40 seconds if all AT&T will allow me to hear will be 20 (or 30 seconds by request)...needless to say this is where we left it.
So, until AT&T will allow you the full 40 seconds, ignore what Apple is telling us and only allow your custom ringtones to have a maximum of 30 seconds (Oh, and don't forget to call AT&T to get the precious 10 second extension before voicemail picks-up)!
For many this shorter ringtone playback length is not a big deal, but I often need the extra time to get my phone out of my backpack or just get it before it stops ringing. At this point I am averaging a 50% successful pick-up rate to beat the voicemail!...:-)
Hopefull this information will help someone else to not have to redo 4 custom ringtones that were made at 39 seconds each!
Other then that I love my phone!
Take care.
Quad 2.8 MacIntel, Mac OS X (10.5.6)
