Looking for reverse phone lookup services can become confusing. You may begin with a simple internet search, hoping it will quickly appear and you'll have the information you desire with minimal effort. Yet what actually appears is a series of paid directories which range from under a dollar for one lookup to upwards of fifteen dollars for a long term subscription.

Changing your search to indicate free reverse phone lookup delivers additional pay sites hiding behind claims to be free. They sometimes allow you to type in the number free of charge and deliver very nominal information such as the city and state, but if you need to get the important information such as a name or address you will then be asked to pay.

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 Providers of this information put out great measures and sometimes money to compile information such as unpublished residential numbers, cellular numbers, and even address histories. These businesses have no use for this information other than to deliver it to buyers for a small charge.

how you proceed from this point depends on how badly you really want to find out the person connected to that phone number. In the age of identity theft most people won't just access the cheapest site and enter their credit card information. Finding the most trustworthy sites is just as crucial 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 source.

There are a growing number of competitive services all offering different charges and delivering different combinations of information. When you only want to identify the name behind a particular phone number calling your home or want to know exactly who your child is talking with at all hours of the night, you may not have the desire to evaluate different services.

The most effective solution may be to go with a name that many of us have grown up with and access the online version of the yellow pages. There is a sense of legitimacy when you use a well known household 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 landline and a map indicating the general location if it is a home or business. You won't find much more than that, especially if you are searching a cell phone or a home phone number that is unpublished.

Be aware at this point because there are links from these pages that will deliver additional information, such as names and specific addresses, for a fee. These are links to different webpages, so you no longer necessarily have the security of the white pages website so you need to ensure the security of these websites just like any other. White pages itself is not going to give you much information beyond a general location; you will need to search elsewhere for more, especially if you need to research a cell phone or unpublished number.

The most effective way to find reverse phone lookup websites for basic needs is to go to a reputable database with a reasonable one time charge accepted with a secure payment system. If you only need a one time lookup then it is usually not worth the fee to commit to a unlimited service. Find one that delivers a single lookup for a small charge, often just a buck or two.

Forking over a large fee for very limited information or being asked to pay by sending financial information through email or other non-secure methods are flashing signs of a scam.