A polyphonic ringtone means that two or more individual melodic notes and/or tones are played in tandem. This allows polyphonic ringtones to play different instrument sounds, such as guitar, drums, electronic piano, etc., at the same time. Current cell phone handsets can play four to forty individual notes and/or tones concurrently. Most of the current models of cell phones are able to download and play polyphonic ringtones.

Cell phone handsets are available for purchase with an array of pre-installed polyphonic ringtones. To download more polyphonic ringtones to your cell phone handset, there are other options available like a ringtone providers website, other users handsets, etc. You can use the GPRS or WAP feature, if your cell phone handset has one, to connect to the Internet and download polyphonic ringtones. With the Bluetooth or infrared feature, you can share your polyphonic ringtones with other users having the Bluetooth or infrared features on their cell phone handsets. You can create your own polyphonic ringtone on your PC with the array of software available on the Internet and then download it from your PC.

The polyphonic ringtones offered in various websites are chargeable. So reading the respective websites user agreement would be an appropriate option. Different ringtone providers have different rates for the polyphonic ringtones. The ringtone providers also offer an array of choices, like hip-hop and rap, rock, classical, TV/movie themes, country, and so on. A cell phone user thus has the option to choose ringtones on the basis of his taste and style.