Looking for reverse phone lookup services can become complicated. You may start out with a simple internet search, assuming it will immediately pop up and you'll discover the information you require with minimal work. Yet what actually comes up is a series of paid services which range from less than a buck for one number search to upwards of fifteen dollars for a service subscription.

Editing your search to indicate free reverse phone lookup delivers even more pay sites advertising claims that they are completely free. They may allow you to type in the number without mention of a fee and award you with very nominal information such as the city and state, but if you want to get the more substantial information like a name or address you will then be asked to pay.

Completely free reverse phone lookup is not possible at this point. Providers of this data go to great efforts and even money to collect information such as unlisted landline numbers, cell phone numbers, and even address histories. These businesses have no use for this information other than to make it available to buyers for a small charge.

how you proceed from this point depends on how badly you really desire to identify the person registered to that phone number. In the age of identity fraud most people won't just pick the first site they find and hand over their personal information. Finding the most trustworthy services is just as crucial as when you shop for tennis shoes or purses online.

Getting the information you need isn't very hard, once you find a proven service.

There are a growing number of competitive websites all offering different fees and delivering different combinations of information. When you only want to identify the name registered with a particular phone number calling your home or need to know exactly who your teenager is chatting with at all hours of the night, you may not have the patience to compare different websites.

The quickest solution may be to go with a brand that many of us have grown up with and access the online version of the yellow pages. There is a sense of security when you use a well known 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 find much beyond that, especially if you are researching a cell phone or a residential number that is unlisted.

Be careful at this point because there will be links from these pages that will deliver additional information, such as names and specific addresses, for a charge. These are links to other webpages, so you have left the security of the white pages website so you must check the legitimacy of these databases just as with any other. Yellow pages itself is not going to deliver much information beyond a general location; you will have to search elsewhere for anything else, especially if you wish to know about a cell phone or unpublished number.

The best way to find reverse phone lookup directories for basic needs is to go to a proven database with a small one time fee paid with a secure payment system. If you only need a one time number search then it is usually not worth the charge to commit to a more detailed directory. Find one that offers a single search for a small charge, often just a dollar or two.

Shelling out a large charge for very limited information or being asked to secure information by delivering card numbers through email or other non-secure methods are flashing signals of a scam.