Searching for reverse phone lookup services can get confusing. You may begin with a quick Google search, hoping it will quickly appear and you'll find the information you desire with minimal effort. Yet what actually appears is a long list of paid directories which vary from under a dollar for one lookup to upwards of fifteen dollars for a long term subscription.
Changing your search to include free reverse phone lookup brings additional pay sites sneaking in claims that they are completely free. They sometimes allow you to type in the number free of charge and award you with very nominal information such as the city and state, but in order to see the important information such as a name or address you will once again be prompted to pay.
Completely free reverse phone lookup does not exist. Providers of this data put out great measures and even money to collect information like unpublished home phone numbers, cell phone numbers, and sometimes address histories. They have no use for this information other than to pass it on to buyers for a minor charge.
whether you move forward from this point depends on how much you really need to reveal the name connected to that phone number. In the age of identity theft most people won't just pick the first site they find and enter their credit card information. Finding the most trustworthy sites is just as necessary as when you buy tennis shoes or pocketbooks over the internet.
Finding the information you need isn't very difficult, once you locate a reputable lookup directory.
There are a growing number of competing directories all with different prices and delivering different combinations of data. When you only need to determine the person registered with a unidentified number calling your home or wish to identify exactly who your teenager is chatting with in the middle of the night, you may not have the time to rate different websites.
The quickest solution may be to go with a name that many of us have grown up with and use the web-based version of the white pages. There is a sense of security with a well known household name that has been trusted for years. You can look up 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 if it is a home or business. You won't get much beyond that, especially if you are searching a cell phone or a home phone number that is unlisted.
Be careful at this point because there are links on these pages that promise additional information, including registered names and specific addresses, for a charge. These links go to other sites, so you no longer necessarily have the security of the yellow pages website so you need to ensure the security of these databases just like any other. Yellow pages itself is not going to give you much information besides a general location; you will need to look elsewhere for more, especially if you wish to research a cell phone or unlisted number.
The most effective way to access reverse phone lookup services for basic needs is to find a proven directory with a reasonable one time fee collected with a secure payment system. If you just want a one time lookup then it is obviously not worth the fee to commit to a unlimited service. Find one that offers a single lookup for a low fee, often just a dollar or two.
Paying a high charge for small amounts of information or being asked to pay by delivering card numbers through email or other non-secure methods are flashing signs of a scam.