Well, it was inevitable - ringback for VoIP. I blogged about my hatred of ringback tones several months ago. Now Broadsoft is offering ringback for VoIP. In case you don't know what ringback tones are, ringback tones are customizable clips of recorded music, video or other personalized audio content that incoming callers hear while they wait for their calls to be answered.

For exampler, if you call someone who is a fan of Eminem and they set an Eminem song as their ringback, you have to listen to one of his songs until the call is or is not answered. You may or may not be a fan of Eminem, but personally I'd rather not listen to someone else's music tastes, whether it be rap, classic rock, rock, pop, or even classical. Someone could also record pornographic ringback tones if they desired.

Thus, I want someone to invent a device that detects those annoying ringback tones and replaces them with ordinary, plain vanilla ringtone. So then when the other party answers the phone and they say "Did you hear my cool ringback tone?" I can gleefully say, "Naw, I filter out that ringtone cr*p."

Anyway, here's the Broadsoft news...

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Today, BroadSoft announced the addition of custom ringback tones to its portfolio of VoIP applications. Today’s announcement extends a service that is growing in popularity on wireless phones worldwide to traditional fixed line telephones.

BROADSOFT LAUNCHES CUSTOM RINGBACK TONES AND ADDS RICH MEDIA CAPABILITIES FOR SERVICE PROVIDERS

BroadSoft Turns “Plain Old Ringing” that Incoming Callers Hear into Customizable Music, Audio, and Video Clips for Enterprise and Residential Users

Gaithersburg, MD, September 20, 2005 -- BroadSoft, the leading provider of VoIP application software, announced today that the BroadSoft? BroadWorks? VoIP application platform now enables fixed line and wireless service providers to further differentiate their services and increase average revenue per user (ARPU) by offering custom (or color) ringback tones to their enterprise and residential subscribers. Ringback tones are customizable clips of recorded music, video, or other personalized audio content that incoming callers hear while they wait for their call to be answered.

Extending a service that is growing in popularity on wireless phones worldwide to traditional fixed line telephones, BroadSoft enables users to create a highly differentiated and customized calling experience. Custom ringback tones can consist of traditional music tones, or personalized messages. Custom ringback tones allow enterprises to leverage and extend their branding, promotional, and advertising initiatives. Through audio or video messages, enterprises can play marketing sound bites, advertisements, and a standard company signature as ringback tones.

“The custom ringback tone capability is fully integrated into the BroadWorks VoIP application platform, allowing for quick time to market and ease of implementation on the part of service providers worldwide,” said Scott Wharton, vice-president of marketing of BroadSoft. “As a SIP-based platform, BroadWorks allows service providers to offer new and innovative multimedia services that cannot be replicated on today’s PSTN.”

BroadSoft will demonstrate the BroadWorks custom ringback tone feature with content provided by Zingy (www.zingy.com), a leading provider of ringtones and custom ringback tones, at Fall Von 2005 in Boston, MA September 19-22 in booth 408.

ABOUT BROADSOFT
BroadSoft’s VoIP application software is revolutionizing the delivery of hosted telephony and multimedia services. Its flagship BroadWorks® technology empowers wireless and wireline carriers to deliver next-generation voice and multimedia applications and advanced features that increase revenue, enhance competitive differentiation and elevate customer satisfaction. BroadSoft’s family of carrier-class software products delivers the scale, open architecture and reliability that the world’s leading telecommunications companies demand to serve mission-critical enterprise and residential broadband customers. BroadSoft’s customer base of more than 110 network operators, including BellSouth, MCI, Singtel, Telstra, Verizon and XO Communications leads the industry with more than 1,200,000 lines deployed. Additional information is available at www.broadsoft.com.