Looking for reverse phone lookup directories can get confusing. You may begin with a simple Google search, hoping it will immediately appear and you'll find the information you require with minimal effort. Yet what actually comes up is a long list of paid services which range from under a dollar for one lookup to over fifteen dollars for a long term subscription.

Changing your search to include free reverse phone lookup brings even more pay services advertising claims to be free. They sometimes allow you to type in the number free of charge and deliver very nominal information such as the city and state, but in order to see the important information such as a name or address you will then be requested to hand over a fee.

Completely free reverse phone lookup does not exist. Providers of this information put out great efforts and even money to collect information such as unpublished home phone numbers, cell phone numbers, and sometimes address histories. These businesses have no purpose to collect this information other than to make it available to consumers for a minor fee.

whether you move forward from this point depends on how badly you really desire to find out the name behind that phone number. In the age of identity theft many people won't just pull up the first site they find and reveal their personal information. Finding the most trustworthy directories is just as important as when you purchase clothing or purses online.

Retrieving the information you want isn't very hard, once you locate a proven lookup directory.

There are a growing number of competing services all offering different prices and delivering different combinations of information. When you only need to determine the name behind a particular phone number calling your home or need to determine exactly who your child is chatting with in the middle of the night, you probably don't have the patience to rate different websites.

The most effective 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 legitimacy when you use a well known popular name that has been around for years. You can look up a phone number and get the most basic information here without a fee, 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 You won't find much beyond that, especially if you are researching a cell phone or a home phone number that is unpublished.

Be alert at this point because there are links on these pages that will deliver more detailed information, including registered names and desired addresses, for a fee. These are links to other sites, so you no longer necessarily have the familiarity of the yellow pages website so you need to ensure the legitimacy of these websites just as with any other. White pages itself is not going to give you much information beyond a general location; you will have to search elsewhere for anything else, especially if you need to research a cell phone or unpublished number.

The easiest way to find reverse phone lookup websites for basic needs is to find a proven service with a small one time fee collected through a secure payment system. If you only need a one time lookup then it is probably not worth the fee to commit to a unlimited service. Find one that offers a one time lookup for a small charge, often just a buck or two.

Shelling out a high charge for very limited information or being asked to secure information by delivering personal information through email or other non-secure forms are clear signals of a scam.