Looking for reverse phone lookup directories can get confusing. You may start out with a simple internet search, believing it will automatically pop up and you'll find the information you require with very little work. Yet what actually comes up is a long list of paid directories which vary from under a dollar for one number search to over fifteen dollars for a long term subscription.
Revising your search to specify free reverse phone lookup delivers even more pay sites hiding behind claims that they are completely free. They may allow you to type in the number without mention of a fee and award you with very basic information such as the city and state, but if you want to get the useful details like a name or address you will once again be prompted to pay.
Absolutely free reverse phone lookup does not exist. Providers of this information put out great measures and sometimes money to assemble information such as unlisted home phone numbers, cell phone numbers, and sometimes address histories. These businesses have no use for this information other than to pass it on to consumers for a small charge.
whether you move forward from this point depends on how much you really desire to identify the person behind that phone number. In the age of identity theft most people won't just pick the cheapest site and reveal their personal information. Finding the most trustworthy services is just as important as when you purchase tennis shoes or handbags over the internet.
Finding the information you need isn't very hard, once you access a legitimate service.
There are many competitive websites all with different charges and offering different combinations of data. When you only need to identify the name registered with a particular phone number calling your home or need to identify exactly who your child is chatting with at all hours of the night, you probably don't have the patience to compare different directories.
The quickest answer may be to go with a brand that many people have grown up with and use the online version of the yellow pages. There is a sense of safety with a well known popular name that has been around for years. You can look up a phone number and get very basic information here without a fee, including if the number is a cell phone or home line and a map indicating 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 You won't find much beyond that, especially if you are looking up a cell phone or a residential number that is unpublished.
Be alert at this point because there are links on these pages that will deliver additional information, such as registered names and desired addresses, for a charge. These are links to other webpages, so you no longer necessarily have the familiarity of the yellow pages website so you need to check the security of these websites just like any other. Yellow pages itself is not going to deliver much information beyond a general location; you will need to search elsewhere for anything else, especially if you wish to research a cell phone or unlisted number.
The best way to find reverse phone lookup services for basic needs is to find a trustworthy service with a nominal one time fee paid through a secure payment system. If you only need a one time lookup then it is probably not worth the fee to sign up for a more detailed service. Find one that delivers a single search for a small charge, often just a buck or two.
Forking over a large charge for small amounts of information or being asked to secure information by delivering financial information through email or other non-secure forms are obvious signals of a scam.