Usually, when you are thinking about someone you haven't spoken to in awhile or need to contact an old friend who you don't have a number for, you retrieve the phone book and look up their name. These days most people do not even take up room in their office or homes with the chunky paper phone books, but prefer to visit websites which have the same information and look it up much quicker.
Yet circumstances occur in in everyday life where they obtain a phone number and need to identify who it belongs to. Phone books are designed on the knowledge of the name of the business or person you want to reach, and therefore offer little help. With cell phones being so popular these days it gets even more troublesome since there isn't a cell phone listing free to the public like with standard home phones. Clearly, technological advances have made another type of number directory essential.
Reverse phone lookup is just what its name states: it reverses the method in which you usually use a phone number directory. Rather than searching for a name to locate a number or address, you are using a phone number to find the name or address of whoever the number is registered to.
Many people do not even know this is available, yet with the existance of reverse phone lookup services it is now common by many businesses. It is also on the rise with individuals who get interested in a number for whatever reason. It is a more modern form of the phone book that is likely to outdate the demand for paper phone books in the future.
If you get too many unwanted phone calls, whether they be annoying hang ups, distasteful pranks, or even solicitations and bill collectors who don't leave a message but call at all hours, there is a way to identify exactly who is making the calls by utilizing one of these websites.
You can visit yellowpages.com and find a limited reverse phone lookup website for the most basic information or for published home phone numbers, but there are two categories of information that cannot be retrieved by any other source other than a more detailed directory.
- * When you have a phone number but no additional information and want a corresponding name.
- * When you have a cell phone or an unlisted landline number and need a name, address, or additional information. Whitepages.com is not likely to help with these sorts of information because it is not equipped with the information you want.
Reverse phone lookup services spend quite a bit of time obtaining information, ensuring it is as updated as possible, and storing it all in an organized directory so that it can be easily utilized by people whenever needed.
Much of this information collected is not easy to locate and some of it they have to pay for as well. For example, a legitimate, well maintained directory will have to pay cell phone companies for updated listings of numbers. As with any business, it is to be expected that you will be required to pay a nominal fee to have access to their information.
The key to the fee is it should be small and reasonable, typically around a dollar or so for a one-time phone number lookup and about fifteen dollars for more long term access to the |listings|directory|service}. Any directory asking for a high fee for limited information retrieved should be avoided.
There are too many valuable directories out there to waste time and money on inaccurate services, so ensure they can deliver the information you desire before giving them your money.