Archive for July, 2010

Free Reverse Cell Phone Searches – are They Possible

Millions of people daily are trying to find a way to look up cell phone numbers online. Since so many of us are switching our primary communication to cell phones, this makes perfect sense. However, the results we often have are not so clear.

Searching Free Phone Number Sites

Many free ‘phone book’ type websites now exist on the Internet. They can be found everywhere, often supported by advertisements and /or sponsored by telecommunication companies. These sites offer a variety of search types: reverse search by number, name and address search, people search, etc. While they work great for land line and publicly listed numbers, they fail for cell phones and private numbers. Hence in comparison to a simple paper phone book, they bring nothing new to the table.

Another type of free phone search sites are voluntary directories. These websites let owners of cell phones and land line numbers ‘voluntarily’ enter their own information – as much as they want. Often, they make you enter your own phone number information as a condition to accessing their database. Unfortunately much like ‘phone book’ websites, these directories often do not contain information about numbers you actually want. No one is going to volunteer their ‘private’ number, and telemarketers calling unscrupulously certainly won’t provide their identity so easily.

A Better Way to Find Out about Cell Phone Numbers

Searching free sites can take hours. Many offer access to the same source of information, and therefore the most efficient way to use them is by simply picking one and quickly checking for the number you want. Often, you will find basic information such as a carrier or the type of phone, but nothing more.

Special ‘reverse cell phone websites’, as they’re called, are an even better alternative. They provide information on over 98% of all phone numbers by collecting millions of public records from businesses from around the world. You simply enter the number you want, and they often give a name, address, background profile, and more in a few seconds. This includes the worst offenders – ‘private’ numbers and unscrupulous telemarketers.

Due to their operating costs, these sites do charge a small fee for the search. This fee does include unlimited future searches, and they give full refunds for numbers which they can provide no information. In my experience, a lack of information is rare, however.

So while getting information about cell phone numbers for free online may not be entirely impossible, it often uses too much of your time and provides only frustrating results.