Searching for reverse phone lookup services can get complicated. You may start out with a quick internet search, hoping it will immediately pop up and you'll discover the information you need with very little effort. Yet what actually comes up is a long list of paid directories which range from less than a buck for one number search to upwards of fifteen dollars for a service subscription.
Revising your search to include free reverse phone lookup reveals additional pay services hiding behind claims to be free. They sometimes allow you to enter the number without mention of a fee and deliver very useless information such as the city and state, but in order to see the more substantial information like a name or address you will then be prompted to hand over a fee.
Totally free reverse phone lookup is not possible at this point. Providers of this data put out great efforts and even money to collect information including unpublished home phone numbers, cell phone numbers, and sometimes address histories. These businesses have no use for this information other than to deliver it to you for a nominal fee.
whether you move forward from this point depends on how much you really want to identify the name registered to that phone number. In the age of identity theft most people won't just access the first site they find and hand over their credit card information. Finding the most reputable directories is just as important as when you shop for tennis shoes or pocketbooks over the internet.
Finding the information you need isn't very hard, once you access a proven lookup directory.
There are many competing directories all with different fees and delivering different combinations of data. When you simply want to identify the name behind a particular number calling your home or want to know exactly who your teenager is chatting with at all hours of the night, you probably don't have the patience to evaluate different services.
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 yellow pages. There is a sense of legitimacy when you use a well known popular name that has been around for years. You can search a phone number and get the most basic information here free of charge, including if the number is a cell phone or home line and a map indicating the general location if it is a home or business. You won't receive much beyond that, especially if you are searching a cell phone or a landline that is unlisted.
Be careful at this point because there are links from these pages that will deliver more detailed information, including names and specific addresses, for a fee. These links go to different webpages, so you no longer necessarily have the security of the yellow pages website so you must verify the security of these services just like any other. White pages itself is not going to reveal much information other than a general location; you will have to look elsewhere for anything else, especially if you want to research a cell phone or unpublished number.
The most effective way to access reverse phone lookup websites for basic information is to go to a trustworthy directory with a nominal one time charge paid through a secure payment system. If you only need a one time lookup then it is usually not worth the money to commit to a more detailed directory. Find one that delivers a single search for a minor charge, often just a buck or two.
Paying a large charge for small amounts of information or being asked to pay by sending financial information through email or other non-secure forms are clear warnings of a scam.