Typically, when you recall someone you haven't haven't heard from in awhile or need to contact an old friend who you don't have a number for, you of course find the phone book and look up their last name. These days most people do not even waste space in their homes with the chunky paper phone books, but prefer to visit internet pages containing the same information and look it up much quicker.

Yet problems arise in in everyday life where they have a phone number and want to identify who it belongs to. Old style phone books are designed only to look up the name of the business or person you want to connect with, so won't help much. With cell phones being so widely used these days it gets even more difficult since there isn't a phone number listing accessible to the community as with standard home phones. Obviously, developments in technology have made another type of phone number listing essential.

Reverse phone lookup functions just what its name states: it reverses the method in which you typically use a number listing. Instead of looking up a name to get to a number or address, you look up a phone number to find the name or address of whoever the number may be listed under.

Many people do not even know this is available, yet with the invention of reverse phone lookup directories it is now possible in the business world. It is also becoming quite popular with people who get interested in a phone number for one reason or another. It is a different take on the phone book that may very well erase the need for phone books in the future.

If you are bothered by a high volume of disturbing calls, whether they are annoying hang ups, disturbing pranks, or even telemarketers and bill collectors who don't clearly identify themselves but call constantly, it is possible to identify exactly who is connected to the calls by accessing one of these services.

You can go to yellowpages.com and use a limited reverse phone lookup directory for the most basic information or for listed home phone numbers, but there are two varieties of information that cannot be accessed by any other means other than a more detailed listing.

1. * If you have a phone number but no more information and need a name.
2. * When you have a cell phone or an unlisted residential number and need a name, address, or additional information. Whitepages.com is not going to help with this type of information because it is not equipped with the information you want.

Reverse phone lookup directories spend a lot of time finding information, double checking that it is as accurate as possible, and saving it all in an organized listing so that it can be quickly utilized by people as needed.

A lot of this information retrieved is not easy to obtain and some of it must be paid for as well. For instance, a trustworthy, up to date directory will have to pay cell phone networks for accurate listings of phone numbers. In turn, it is to be expected that you will have to pay a small fee to have access to their records.

The key to the charge is it should be low and affordable, typically about a buck or so for a one-time phone number search and under fifteen bucks for more long term access to the |listings|directory|service}. Any directory that demands a large fee for very little information delivered should be avoided.

There are too many valuable listings available to waste time and money on inaccurate services, so be certain they are offering the information you need before giving them your money.