Searching for reverse phone lookup directories can become complicated. You may begin with a simple internet search, believing it will automatically pop up and you'll have the information you require with minimal work. Yet what actually comes up are various paid directories which vary from less than a buck for one lookup to over fifteen dollars for a long term subscription.

Revising your search to indicate free reverse phone lookup delivers additional pay sites advertising claims to be free. They may allow you to type in the number for free and award you with very basic information such as the city and state, but if you need to see the useful information such as a name or address you will once again be asked to hand over a fee.

Completely free reverse phone lookup does not exist. Providers of this information go to great measures and sometimes money to compile information including unpublished residential numbers, cell phone numbers, and sometimes address histories. These businesses have no purpose to collect this information other than to pass it on to consumers for a small fee.

whether you move forward from this point depends on how much you really desire to reveal the name behind that phone number. In the age of identity fraud most people won't just pull up the cheapest site and enter their personal information. Finding the most trustworthy sites is just as necessary as when you purchase tennis shoes or pocketbooks over the internet.

Finding the information you desire isn't very hard, once you locate a legitimate source.

There are many competing websites all with different prices and delivering different combinations of information. When you simply need to determine the person registered with a strange phone number calling your home or need to identify exactly who your child is talking with in the middle of the night, you probably don't have the patience to compare different websites.

The most effective solution may be to go with a name that many of us have grown up with and access the web-based version of the yellow pages. There is a sense of security with a well known popular name that has been around for years. You can search a phone number and get the most basic information here without a fee, including whether the number is a cell phone or residential line and a map indicating the general location of a home or business. You won't find much beyond that, especially if you are searching a cell phone or a home phone number that is unpublished.

Be alert at this point because there are links from these pages that promise more detailed information, such as registered names and specific addresses, for a charge. These links lead to other sites, so you have left the familiarity of the yellow pages website so you should check the reputation of these websites just as with any other. Yellow pages itself is not going to give you much information beyond a general location; you will need to look elsewhere for anything else, especially if you need to research a cell phone or unlisted number.

The easiest way to access reverse phone lookup services for basic needs is to find a proven directory with a nominal one time charge paid through a secure payment system. If you just want a one time lookup then it is usually not worth the fee to sign up for a long term service. Locate one that offers a single lookup for a small charge, usually just a dollar or two.

Forking over a huge charge for very limited information or being asked to secure information by sending card numbers by email or other non-secure methods are obvious signals of a scam.