Searching for reverse phone lookup services can get confusing. You may start out with a simple Google search, hoping it will quickly pop up and you'll have the information you require with minimal effort. Yet what actually appears is a long list of paid directories which vary from less than a buck for one number search to upwards of fifteen dollars for a service subscription.
Changing your search to indicate free reverse phone lookup delivers even more pay directories advertising claims that they are completely free. They may allow you to enter the number free of charge and award you with very basic information such as the city or state, but in order to get the useful information such as a name or address you will once again be requested to hand over a fee.
Totally free reverse phone lookup is not possible at this point. Providers of this data put out great measures and even money to compile information such as unpublished landline numbers, cellular numbers, and sometimes address histories. These businesses have no use for this information other than to pass it on to consumers for a nominal fee.
how you proceed from this point depends on how badly you really need to reveal the name registered to that phone number. In the age of identity fraud many people won't just pick the first site they find and enter their personal information. Finding the most trustworthy sites is just as crucial as when you shop for clothing or purses online.
Finding the information you need isn't very difficult, once you locate a reputable source.
There are many competing websites all offering different prices and offering different combinations of data. When you simply want to identify the person behind a unidentified number calling your home or want to determine exactly who your teenager is talking with in the middle of the night, you probably don't have the time to compare different directories.
The easiest answer may be to go with a name that many of us have grown up with and access the online version of the white pages. There is a sense of legitimacy when you use a common household name that has been trusted for years. You can search a phone number and get very basic information here without a fee, including whether 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 more than that, especially if you are looking up a cell phone or a landline that is unlisted.
Be alert at this point because there will be links on these pages that will deliver more detailed information, such as names and desired addresses, for a charge. These links lead to different sites, so you have left the familiarity of the yellow pages website so you must verify the legitimacy of these services just as with any other. Yellow pages itself is not going to deliver much information besides a general location; you will have to search elsewhere for more, especially if you need to research a cell phone or unlisted number.
The best way to access reverse phone lookup services for basic needs is to go to a reputable database with a small one time fee paid with a secure payment system. If you only need a one time number search then it is obviously not worth the fee to sign up for a more detailed directory. Look for one that delivers a one time search for a minor fee, often just a dollar or two.
Paying a huge fee for small amounts of information or being asked to secure information by delivering card numbers by email or other non-secure forms are obvious signs of a scam.