A method for activating a distinctive ring-tone can include the steps of extracting caller identifying data from an incoming phone call; comparing the caller identifying data to data in a caller list; determining whether the caller is authorized to activate a distinctive ring-tone based upon the comparison; and, activating a distinctive ring-tone if the caller is authorized and if a request to activate a distinctive ring-tone can be detected in the incoming phone call. The extracting step can include the step of extracting a source phone number from the incoming phone call. The determining step can include the step of determining whether the caller has been included in the caller list as an authorized caller. Conversely, the determining step comprises the step of determining whether the caller has been included in the caller list as an unauthorized caller.