subject: Free Reverse Phone Directory - Is There Such A Thing? [print this page] It's amazing how many people are searching the internet for a free reverse phone directory. Everywhere I go, from forums to blogs to social networking sites, I see the same question being posted: where can I perform a reverse lookup on a cell phone number for free. People always want to get something for nothing. Unfortunately, they are soon frustrated by the fact that all of the so-called free reverse phone directories always lead back to the same paid directories that require a fee to gain access.
Reverse lookup tools can be very useful. We've all been in the situation where we write down a phone number and then forget who it belongs to. You may not feel comfortable calling the number without knowing who owns it. If the number is a standard residential landline you may be able to use a free reverse phone directory to gather information on the owner. But finding out who owns a cell phone is a lot more difficult. This is because the free reverse phone directories do not have access to cell phone numbers because they are not public information. They are controlled by the individual cellular carriers themselves. Fax numbers, unlisted numbers, and some business numbers are also unavailable to the free directories.
So if a free reverse phone directory can't help us, then how can we find the information we need? The good news is that there are websites out there that pay the phone companies a fee in order to access their records. These websites legally gather the information together and build a searchable database that you can access for a one-time fee. Their databases contain all sorts of information about the phone number's owner including name, location, address history, aliases, type of phone line, and many other details.
There are quite a few advantages to using a paid membership service. First, your searches are completely confidential. No one is notified that you have run a search on them so you can run your reverse lookups anonymously. Second, once you pay the one-time fee you can run an unlimited number of searches without ever paying another penny. Plus, you'll receive access to other investigative tools that let you dig even deeper for information. You can run background checks and check for criminal records or sex offender status. The small fee charged by legitimate reverse phone directories is a small price to pay for the peace of mind and quality of service they provide.
