Normally, when you remember someone you haven't have lost touch with or need to communicate with an acquaintance who you don't have a phone number for, you retrieve the phone book and search for their last name. These days most people do not even waste space in their living spaces with the chunky paper phone books, but prefer to visit websites which have the same information and look it up much quicker.

Yet things happen in in everyday life where they receive a phone number and want to know who it belongs to. Phone books are designed only to look up the name of the business or person you want to connect with, so are useless. With cell phones being so commonplace these days it gets even more troublesome because there isn't a cell phone directory free to the community as with residential numbers. Obviously, developments in technology have made another sort of phone number compilation necessary.

Reverse phone lookup means basically what the name states: it reverses the method in which you normally use a phone number directory. Instead of browsing for a name to locate a phone number or address, you are using a phone number to locate the name or even address of whoever the number is listed under.

Many people do not even realize this can be done, but with the development of reverse phone lookup websites it is now possible by many businesses. It is also on the rise with people who get concerned with a number for one reason or another. It is a more modern form of the phone book and is likely to eliminate the demand for phone books in the future.

If you get too many unwanted phone calls, whether they be annoying hang ups, rude pranks, or even solicitations or bill collectors who don't reveal who they are but call at all hours, you can figure out just who is making the calls by tapping into one of these services.

You can go to whitepages.com and use a free reverse phone lookup website for the most basic information or for published landline numbers, but there are two categories of information that cannot be found with any other source other than a more detailed service.

1. * If you have a number but no other information and must find a corresponding name.
2. * When you have a cell phone or an unpublished residential number and want to find a name, address, or other information. Yellowpages.com is not likely to help with these sorts of information because it is not updated with the information you need.

Reverse phone lookup directories put out quite a bit of time obtaining information, ensuring it is as accurate as possible, and storing it all in an organized fashion so that it may be quickly used by people whenever needed.

Much of this information compiled is not easy to locate and some of it must be paid for as well. For example, a trustworthy, well maintained directory will have to pay cell phone companies for updated listings of numbers. As with any business, it is understandable that you will have to pay a small charge to have access to their listings.

The deal about the charge is it should be small and affordable, typically around a dollar or so for a single phone number search and about 15 bucks for more long term subscription to the |listings|directory|service}. Any directory that demands a large charge for limited information retrieved should be avoided.

There are too many good directories available to throw away time and money on incomplete resources, so make sure they actually have the information you need before giving them hard earned money.