Alec McEachern asked:


Have you ever wanted to find where an old friend is living is now?  Or have you ever wanted to find out whom your daughter is talking with?  Or maybe you just wanted to send a Thank You or Christmas card to a client, and all you have is their phone number?  Well, these are all reasons a reverse telephone lookup directory exists. 

My first time doing a reverse telephone search certainly was an eye opening experience.  Since the telephone number that I was searching was a wireless number I had no luck consulting White Pages or any other online public directory.  These directories are solely for the use of landline home and business numbers, which are a matter of public information.

So, after resigning myself to having no luck there I decided to try searching the phone number in the major search engines.  I typed the number in Google, MSN, and Yahoo.  All three directories came up with nothing in relation to that number.  So, the next thing I did was type “reverse cell phone lookup” in the search tool bars of these 3 search engines.  To my delight, I saw sites that offered a “free” cell phone search and figured my problem was solved.  But after going through 4 of these sites, I found out the search was “free”, but the results were not.  Feeling misled, I wasn’t about to trust the validity of their data.  So I moved on to my next step. 

I searched why I had to pay for information associated with cell phone numbers.  What I found is that these numbers are not considered public information.  This data is owned by the major wireless carriers like Verizon, Sprint, and Nextel.  You can’t access their phone directories, so the only way to retrieve this data is through one of the reputable online sites that resell this data.  Fortunately, if you are determined to get the data, the cost is about the same as a pizza and the information you’ll obtain is pretty extensive. You’ll be able to find the owner’s name, billing address, map location of the address, what cell phone carrier the owner uses, and a history of that cell phone number, including previous owners of the number, if any.  Also, many times you’ll be able to find out the owner’s age and occupation. 

This information is obtained is easily and virtually instantly.  Good online sites also offer a money back guarantee and operate customer service departments that are responsive to any questions or problems you may have. 

So, next time you find yourself in a position where you need to find out personal information about someone and all you have is a phone number to work with, you’ll know what your options are.  Doing a reverse telephone lookup with one of the few reliable and trustworthy online websites is an option increasingly more people are turning to as a great resource in searching cell phone numbers.  One of the best and most popular directories is referenced below.

Dennis R. Ward asked:

Have you ever received a cell phone call from a number you did not recognize? If you are like me most of the time I will just let them leave a message if I don’t recognize the number. But what if they do not leave a message? Or what if you get someone’s number and forget to put a name on the piece of paper you wrote it on. Later you will wonder who’s number it is and if it was important. These are a couple reasons to do a reverse telephone search.

By doing a reverse telephone search you are able to pull up with in 10 seconds the name, address and phone carrier of the number entered. All you have to do is enter the 10 digit phone number into the website I will show you in a moment and you will get the information you want.

This is just one use for a reverse telephone search. What if your spouse or significant other begins getting phone calls from numbers you do not recognize? Before you go and question them about it you can all ready have the answers.

What if your teenager is getting phone calls in the middle of the night or you just want to know who they are talking to. With a reverse telephone search you will already know.

The best part of this service is that it is 100% confidential. This means that no one will ever know you did a search on their phone. But can you imagine catching someone in a lie about who’s number it was? When you are able to give the name and address of the person the number belongs to they will know the gig is up.

Alec McEachern asked:

Have you ever tried to locate a person by telephone number?  There are many reasons you could have run into this situation.  Maybe you need to find out the address of a business client and all you have is their phone number.  Or maybe a strange and unfamiliar number keeps popping up on the missed calls list of your cell phone.  Whatever the reason, a reverse telephone directory can help you get to the bottom of things. 

When searching for owner information by phone number, it’s important to distinguish between landline and wireless phone numbers.  Landline phone numbers are a matter of public record and wireless telephone numbers are not.  What this means is that landline numbers can be located by using free means, which include White Pages or any of the online free public directories.  This service has been around for a long time and many people have made good use of these directories. 

If the telephone number happens to be a cell phone number, your options won’t include the free directories.  The reason for this is because major cell phone carriers own and control the data behind these numbers.  Only recently have they decided to sell this information to third party broker sites.  These are the sites that have now made the owner information available to the public.  These sites have to charge a small fee to anyone looking to obtain results to cover their costs and turn a small profit. 

Before turning to the paid directories, however, you can try to search the cell phone number in any of the major online search engines like Google or Yahoo.  This method works if the phone number has been entered into a website in which this information was requested, such as a social website, online catalogue, or membership site.  Most times this personal information is kept confidential, so trying to locate a person by telephone number with this method is hit and miss at best. 

If this method falls short and you, you still have the option of one of the few reliable online reverse cell phone directories.  These directories get their data directly from the major cell phone carriers and their information is constantly updated.  You have the option of doing a preliminary search to find out whether that number exists in their database and in what city and state the number originates from.

From there, you have the option of paying a small one-time fee for the results.  Typical results include the owner’s name, billing address, map location of address, cell phone carrier, owner’s status with the carrier, previous owner of the cell phone number and, often times, the owner’s age and occupation.  Furthermore, if you plan on doing more than a few searches, you have the option of paying a bit more to perform unlimited searches.  Lastly, a reputable site will offer a money back guarantee and operate a customer service department that is available and responsive.