Searching for reverse phone lookup directories can become complicated. You may begin with a simple internet search, believing it will quickly pop up and you'll discover the information you desire with very little effort. Yet what actually appears are various paid websites which range from less than a buck for one number search to upwards of fifteen dollars for a service subscription.
Revising your search to specify free reverse phone lookup reveals additional pay sites advertising claims that they are completely free. They sometimes allow you to type in the number for free and deliver very useless information such as the city and state, but in order to obtain the more substantial details such as a name or address you will once again be asked to hand over a fee.
Totally free reverse phone lookup does not exist. Providers of this information put out great measures and even money to assemble information such as unpublished residential numbers, cell phone numbers, and even address histories. These businesses have no use for this information other than to pass it on to buyers for a nominal fee.
how you proceed from here depends on how badly you really want to identify the name behind that phone number. In the age of identity theft most people won't just pick the cheapest site and enter their credit card information. Finding the most trustworthy services is just as necessary as when you shop for tennis shoes or handbags over the internet.
Finding the information you desire isn't very difficult, once you locate a proven lookup directory.
There are a growing number of competitive websites all offering different fees and delivering different combinations of information. When you only want to know the name connected to a unidentified number calling your home or need to know exactly who your child is talking with in the middle of the night, you may not have the time to rate different websites.
The easiest answer 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 legitimacy with a common popular name that has been used for years. You can look up a phone number and get the most basic information here without a fee, including whether the number is a cell phone or landline and a map indicating the general location of a home or business. You won't receive much more than that, especially if you are researching a cell phone or a residential number that is unlisted.
Be alert at this point because there will be links from these pages that offer more information, like registered names and specific addresses, for a fee. These links lead to different sites, so you no longer necessarily have the familiarity of the yellow pages website so you must verify the security of these websites just as you would with any other. White pages itself is not going to give you much information other than a general location; you will have to look elsewhere for more, especially if you wish to research a cell phone or unlisted number.
The best way to access reverse phone lookup services for basic needs is to find a reputable database with a nominal one time fee collected through a secure payment system. If you just want a one time number search then it is obviously not worth the charge to sign up for a long term directory. Locate one that delivers a one time lookup for a small charge, often just a buck or two.
Forking over a large fee for small amounts of information or being asked to secure information by delivering personal information by email or other non-secure methods are clear signs of a scam.