Looking for reverse phone lookup services can get complicated. You may start out with a simple Google search, believing it will automatically appear and you'll discover the information you desire with minimal effort. Yet what actually appears are various paid websites which range from less than a buck for one number search to upwards of fifteen dollars for a long term subscription.

Revising your search to specify free reverse phone lookup brings additional pay sites sneaking in claims that they are completely free. They may allow you to type in the number for free and deliver very basic information such as the city and state, but if you want to obtain the important information such as a name or address you will then be requested 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 unlisted residential numbers, cell phone numbers, and sometimes address histories. They have no purpose to collect this information other than to make it available to you for a nominal charge.

how you proceed from this point depends on how badly you really desire to reveal the person connected to that phone number. In the age of identity fraud many people won't just pick the first site they find and reveal their credit card information. Finding the most trustworthy directories is just as necessary as when you shop for clothing or purses over the internet.

Retrieving the information you need isn't very hard, once you locate a legitimate service.

There are many competitive directories all offering different prices and delivering different combinations of data. When you only need to identify the person behind a unidentified number calling your home or wish to determine exactly who your child is talking with in the middle of the night, you may not have the desire to compare different services.

The easiest solution may be to go with a name that many of us have grown up with and access the online version of the white pages. There is a sense of safety when you use a common household name that has been trusted for years. You can search a phone number and get the most basic information here without paying, including whether the number is a cell phone or residential line and a map pinpointing the general location of a home or business. You won't receive much more than that, especially if you are researching a cell phone or a landline that is unlisted.

Be aware at this point because there are links on these pages that promise more information, like registered names and desired addresses, for a fee. These links lead to other sites, so you no longer necessarily have the security of the white pages website so you should verify the security of these services just as you would with any other. Yellow pages itself is not going to deliver much information besides a general location; you will need to look elsewhere for anything else, especially if you wish to research a cell phone or unpublished number.

The most effective way to access reverse phone lookup directories for basic information is to go to a trustworthy directory with a nominal one time charge collected through a secure payment system. If you just want a one time number search then it is obviously not worth the fee to sign up for a more detailed service. Locate one that offers a one time search for a small price, usually just a buck or two.

Shelling out a huge fee for small amounts of information or being asked to secure information by delivering financial information by email or other non-secure forms are clear signals of a scam.