Searching for reverse phone lookup services can get complicated. You may start out with a simple Google search, hoping it will immediately pop up and you'll find the information you require with minimal work. Yet what actually appears is a series of paid services which range from less than a buck 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 directories hiding behind claims that they are completely free. They sometimes allow you to enter the number free of charge and give very nominal information such as the city or state, but if you want to get the important details such as a name or address you will once again be requested to hand over a fee.
Totally free reverse phone lookup is not possible at this point. Providers of this information go to great efforts and sometimes money to compile information such as unpublished landline numbers, cell phone numbers, and sometimes address histories. These businesses have no purpose to collect this information other than to pass it on to buyers for a minor charge.
how you proceed from here depends on how much 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 cheapest site and enter their private information. Finding the most reputable directories is just as crucial as when you purchase clothing or purses over the internet.
Retrieving the information you need isn't very difficult, once you find a reputable service.
There are many competitive directories all with different charges and offering different combinations of information. When you simply need to know the name behind a particular phone number calling your home or want to know exactly who your child is talking with in the middle of the night, you probably don't have the time to compare different services.
The easiest solution may be to go with a name that many people have grown up with and use the online version of the white pages. There is a sense of security when you use a common household name that has been trusted for years. You can search a phone number and get very basic information here without a fee, including whether the number is a cell phone or landline and a map pinpointing the general location of a home or business. You won't receive much more than that, especially if you are searching a cell phone or a residential number that is unlisted.
Be aware at this point because there will be links from these pages that offer additional information, such as registered names and specific addresses, for a charge. These are links to other webpages, so you no longer necessarily have the security of the yellow pages website so you should check the reputation of these websites just as with any other. White pages itself is not going to reveal much information besides a general location; you will need to search elsewhere for more, especially if you need to know about a cell phone or unpublished number.
The easiest way to access reverse phone lookup websites for basic information is to go to a trustworthy directory with a nominal one time charge accepted 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 long term directory. Locate one that offers a single lookup for a small fee, often just a dollar or two.
Forking over a huge fee for small amounts of information or being asked to pay by sending card numbers through email or other non-secure methods are clear warnings of a scam.