Searching for reverse phone lookup directories can get complicated. You may begin with a quick internet search, assuming it will immediately pop up and you'll have the information you desire with minimal effort. Yet what actually comes up is a long list of paid directories which range from under a dollar for one number search to upwards of fifteen dollars for a long term subscription.
Editing your search to indicate free reverse phone lookup delivers even more pay directories advertising claims to be free. They sometimes allow you to type in the number without mention of a fee and deliver very useless information such as the city and state, but if you need to obtain the more substantial details like a name or address you will once again be prompted to hand over a fee.
Completely free reverse phone lookup is not possible at this point. Providers of this data go to great efforts and even money to assemble information such as unpublished residential numbers, cellular numbers, and sometimes address histories. They have no use for this information other than to pass it on to consumers for a nominal charge.
whether you move forward from here depends on how badly you really desire to identify the name behind that phone number. In the age of identity theft many people won't just access the first site they find and enter their credit card information. Finding the most trustworthy services is just as crucial as when you shop for tennis shoes or pocketbooks online.
Retrieving the information you desire isn't very difficult, once you locate a proven lookup directory.
There are a growing number of competing websites all offering different prices and offering different combinations of data. When you only want to identify the name registered with a particular phone number calling your home or want to determine exactly who your teenager is chatting with at all hours of the night, you may not have the patience to compare different services.
The most effective answer may be to go with a brand that many of us have grown up with and use the web-based version of the white pages. There is a sense of legitimacy when you use a common popular name that has been around for years. You can look up a phone number and get the most basic information here for free, including if the number is a cell phone or residential line and a map indicating the general location if it is a home or business. You won't find much beyond that, especially if you are researching a cell phone or a home phone number that is unpublished.
Be aware at this point because there are links on these pages that will deliver more detailed information, including registered names and specific addresses, for a charge. These are links to different webpages, so you have left the familiarity of the white pages website so you must check the legitimacy of these websites just like any other. White pages itself is not going to give you much information besides a general location; you will have to search elsewhere for more, especially if you want to know about a cell phone or unpublished number.
The most effective way to locate reverse phone lookup websites for basic information is to find a trustworthy service with a small one time charge paid through a secure payment system. If you just want a one time lookup then it is usually not worth the charge to sign up for a more detailed directory. Locate one that delivers a one time search for a minor price, often just a dollar or two.
Shelling out a high fee for very limited information or being asked to secure information by delivering financial information through email or other non-secure forms are flashing signals of a scam.