Looking for reverse phone lookup directories can get confusing. You may start out with a simple internet search, hoping it will immediately appear and you'll have the information you need with very little work. Yet what actually comes up are various paid websites which vary from less than a buck for one lookup to upwards of fifteen dollars for a long term subscription.

Revising your search to include free reverse phone lookup brings even more pay sites hiding behind claims to be free. They sometimes allow you to type in the number free of charge and give very basic information such as the city and state, but if you want to obtain the important details like a name or address you will then be asked to pay.

Absolutely free reverse phone lookup is not possible at this point. Providers of this information put out great efforts and sometimes money to collect information including unpublished residential numbers, cell phone numbers, and sometimes address histories. These businesses have no purpose to collect this information other than to make it available to you for a small fee.

how you proceed from here depends on how badly you really need to identify the person behind that phone number. In the age of identity fraud many people won't just pick the cheapest site and enter their private information. Finding the most trustworthy directories is just as crucial as when you buy tennis shoes or purses over the internet.

Finding the information you desire isn't very hard, once you find a reputable lookup directory.

There are a growing number of competitive services all offering different charges and offering different combinations of information. When you simply want to determine the name registered with a strange phone number calling your home or want to determine exactly who your teenager is chatting with at all hours of the night, you probably don't have the patience to compare different services.

The easiest answer may be to go with a name that many of us have grown up with and use the web-based version of the white pages. There is a sense of security when you use a common popular name that has been trusted for years. You can look up a phone number and get the most basic information here without paying, 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 get much more than that, especially if you are searching a cell phone or a home phone number that is unlisted.

Be aware at this point because there will be links on these pages that promise more information, such as names and residential addresses, for a fee. These are links to other webpages, so you no longer necessarily have the security of the yellow pages website so you should ensure the reputation of these websites just as you would with any other. White pages itself is not going to reveal much information besides a general location; you will need to search elsewhere for more, especially if you need to research a cell phone or unlisted number.

The best way to find reverse phone lookup directories for basic needs is to find a trustworthy database with a small one time fee accepted through a secure payment system. If you only need a one time lookup then it is probably not worth the charge to commit to a more detailed service. Locate one that delivers a one time lookup for a small charge, usually just a dollar or two.

Forking over a huge charge for very limited information or being asked to pay by delivering personal information by email or other non-secure methods are flashing signals of a scam.