Searching for reverse phone lookup directories can become complicated. You may begin with a simple Google search, believing it will automatically pop up and you'll have the information you need with minimal work. Yet what actually appears is a series of paid services which range from under a dollar for one number search to over fifteen dollars for a service subscription.
Revising your search to specify free reverse phone lookup delivers additional pay directories advertising claims that they are completely free. They may allow you to type in the number without mention of a fee and give very nominal information such as the city and state, but if you need to obtain the important details such as a name or address you will then be prompted to pay.
Absolutely free reverse phone lookup is not possible at this point. Providers of this data put out great efforts and sometimes money to assemble information like unpublished residential numbers, cell phone numbers, and even address histories. These businesses have no use for this information other than to make it available to consumers for a minor fee.
how you proceed from here depends on how much you really desire to identify the person behind that phone number. In the age of identity theft many people won't just pull up the first site they find and hand over their personal information. Finding the most trustworthy services is just as crucial as when you shop for tennis shoes or handbags online.
Retrieving the information you need isn't very difficult, once you locate a reputable lookup directory.
There are many competing directories all offering different charges and offering different combinations of information. When you only want to identify the name connected to a unidentified number calling your home or wish to determine exactly who your teenager is chatting with in the middle of the night, you probably don't have the desire to rate different services.
The most effective solution may be to go with a name that many people have grown up with and access the web-based version of the yellow pages. There is a sense of legitimacy with a well known popular name that has been trusted for years. You can search a phone number and get very basic information here without paying, including whether the number is a cell phone or home line and a map pinpointing the general location of a home or business. You won't get much beyond that, especially if you are looking up a cell phone or a residential number that is unlisted.
Be alert at this point because there are links from these pages that will deliver additional information, such as names and desired addresses, for a charge. These are links to different webpages, so you have left the security of the white pages website so you must ensure the security of these databases just like any other. White pages itself is not going to deliver much information beyond a general location; you will have to look elsewhere for anything else, especially if you need to know about a cell phone or unlisted number.
The most effective way to find reverse phone lookup directories for basic information is to find a proven service with a small one time charge accepted through a secure payment system. If you just want a one time lookup then it is probably not worth the money to commit to a more detailed service. Find one that provides a one time search for a small price, often just a dollar or two.
Shelling out a huge fee for very limited information or being asked to pay by delivering financial information by email or other non-secure forms are clear signals of a scam.