Searching for reverse phone lookup directories can get complicated. You may start out with a quick internet search, assuming it will quickly appear and you'll discover the information you require with minimal work. Yet what actually comes up is a series of paid services which vary from less than a buck for one number search to over fifteen dollars for a long term subscription.
Revising your search to include free reverse phone lookup reveals even more pay services sneaking in claims to be free. They may allow you to type in the number without mention of a fee and give very useless information such as the city and state, but if you want to get the more substantial details like a name or address you will then be prompted to pay.
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 like unlisted home phone numbers, cellular numbers, and sometimes address histories. These businesses have no use for this information other than to make it available to buyers for a nominal charge.
whether you move forward from here depends on how badly you really want to find out the name behind that phone number. In the age of identity theft many people won't just access the cheapest site and enter their private information. Finding the most trustworthy services is just as necessary as when you shop for clothing or handbags over the internet.
Finding the information you want isn't very difficult, once you find a legitimate source.
There are many competitive directories all with different prices and offering different combinations of data. When you simply need to identify the person behind a particular phone number calling your home or wish to know exactly who your teenager is chatting with at all hours of the night, you probably don't have the patience to rate different directories.
The easiest solution may be to go with a name that many people have grown up with and access the web-based version of the yellow pages. There is a sense of safety when you use a common household name that has been trusted for years. You can look up a phone number and get very basic information here without a fee, including whether the number is a cell phone or landline 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 landline that is unlisted.
Be aware at this point because there will be links from these pages that promise more information, such as names and desired addresses, for a fee. These links go to different sites, so you have left the security of the white pages website so you should verify the reputation of these databases just as with any other. Yellow pages itself is not going to deliver much information other than a general location; you will need to search elsewhere for more, especially if you need to know about a cell phone or unpublished number.
The best way to locate reverse phone lookup directories for basic needs is to go to a trustworthy service with a reasonable one time fee collected with a secure payment system. If you only need a one time lookup then it is probably not worth the money to sign up for a unlimited directory. Look for one that offers a single lookup for a low charge, usually just a buck or two.
Shelling out a large fee for very limited information or being asked to secure information by sending financial information through email or other non-secure methods are clear signs of a scam.