Searching for reverse phone lookup directories can get confusing. You may start out with a simple internet search, believing it will immediately appear and you'll have the information you require with minimal effort. Yet what actually comes up is a series of paid websites which range from less than a buck for one number search to over fifteen dollars for a long term subscription.

Changing your search to specify free reverse phone lookup brings additional pay sites hiding behind claims that they are completely free. They may allow you to enter the number for free and give very basic information such as the city and state, but in order to get the useful details like a name or address you will once again be requested to hand over a fee.

Completely free reverse phone lookup is not possible at this point. Providers of this information put out great measures and sometimes money to compile information including unpublished home phone numbers, cell phone numbers, and even address histories. These businesses have no use for this information other than to deliver it to buyers for a minor fee.

whether you move forward from here depends on how much you really want to reveal the person registered to that phone number. In the age of identity theft most people won't just access the first site they find and reveal their credit card information. Finding the most trustworthy sites is just as important as when you shop for tennis shoes or handbags through the web.

Getting the information you need isn't very hard, once you locate a reputable service.

There are many competitive directories all offering different prices and offering different combinations of data. When you simply want to know the name behind a particular number calling your home or wish to determine exactly who your teenager is chatting with at all hours of the night, you may not have the patience to rate different services.

The easiest answer may be to go with a name that many of us have grown up with and use the online version of the yellow pages. There is a sense of security with a common household 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 pinpointing the general location of a home or business. You won't find much beyond 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 offer more detailed information, like registered names and specific addresses, for a charge. These links lead to other sites, so you no longer necessarily have the security of the white pages website so you should verify the legitimacy of these services just as you would with any other. Yellow pages itself is not going to give you much information other than a general location; you will have to search elsewhere for anything else, especially if you wish to know about a cell phone or unlisted number.

The best way to find reverse phone lookup directories for basic needs is to go to a reputable service with a nominal one time fee accepted through a secure payment system. If you just want a one time lookup then it is probably not worth the charge to commit to a unlimited directory. Locate one that provides a one time lookup for a small charge, often just a buck or two.

Shelling out a high fee for small amounts of information or being asked to secure information by sending personal information through email or other non-secure forms are obvious signals of a scam.