Looking for reverse phone lookup directories can get confusing. You may start out with a simple internet search, believing it will quickly appear and you'll have the information you require with minimal effort. Yet what actually appears is a series of paid websites which vary from less than a buck for one number search to upwards of fifteen dollars for a long term subscription.

Changing your search to indicate free reverse phone lookup brings even more pay sites hiding behind claims to be free. They may allow you to type in the number free of charge and award you with very useless information such as the city or state, but in order to obtain the useful details like a name or address you will then be asked to hand over a fee.

Totally free reverse phone lookup does not exist. Providers of this data go to great efforts and even money to collect information such as unpublished landline numbers, cellular numbers, and even address histories. These businesses have no use for this information other than to deliver it to you for a nominal fee.

whether you move forward from here depends on how much you really want to reveal the name registered to that phone number. In the age of identity theft most people won't just pick the first site they find and enter their credit card information. Finding the most trustworthy services is just as crucial as when you shop for tennis shoes or purses online.

Getting the information you desire isn't very hard, once you find a proven source.

There are a growing number of competitive websites all offering different charges and delivering different combinations of information. When you simply want to know the person registered with a strange 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 evaluate different directories.

The quickest answer may be to go with a brand that many of us have grown up with and use the online version of the white pages. There is a sense of security when you use a common popular name that has been around for years. You can search a phone number and get very basic information here for free, 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 find much beyond that, especially if you are researching 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 detailed information, like registered names and desired addresses, for a charge. These are links to different webpages, so you no longer necessarily have the familiarity of the yellow pages website so you need to ensure the reputation of these websites 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 search elsewhere for more, especially if you want to research a cell phone or unlisted number.

The most effective way to locate reverse phone lookup websites for basic needs is to go to a proven directory with a nominal one time fee paid with a secure payment system. If you only need a one time lookup then it is usually not worth the money to sign up for a long term service. Find one that provides a one time search for a small fee, usually just a buck or two.

Paying a high fee for small amounts of information or being asked to pay by sending personal information through email or other non-secure methods are flashing warnings of a scam.