Trying to match a name and address to a phone number?
What kind of phone number are you looking to search?
You know,
if the number is a landline or business telephone number, all you have to do is visit the website of any random free phone directory on the Internet. If you don't want to use the Internet, you can simply make a phone call to whichever “411” service you prefer to use. Just keep in mind that many of these services charge a fee for this service. Although the information is free, some (if not many)“411” directories charge a fee for the service they provide when responding to a call for personal information.
This may be very basic information, but the easiest way to think about phone number lookups is that:
(i) personal information pertaining to landline and business telephone numbers is freely available, and
(ii) personal information pertaining to cellular and unlisted numbers is not.
White Pages and AnyWho are two of the biggest free telephone directories in the United States. Both of these companies provide websites that are able to deliver personal details connected to any listed landline or business phone number.
Why isn't personal information connected to mobile numbers free?
If you want to look up wireless numbers (or any other kind of telephone number not included in the databases of free phone directories) you are going to have to take your search to a fee-based phone directory.
Sprint, Verizon and whatever other cell phone company you can think of don't pass out free personal information reports connected to the wireless numbers they service. This information is still protected by certain privacy laws in America. So if you want access to this information, you are going to have to abide by certain preconditions as to what you can and cannot do with the personal information you are seeking. In addition to this, you are going to have to pay a fee to the rightful owners.
But you don't do this directly.
You cannot get on the website of Verizon, Sprint or any other wireless carrier and expect to get your answers there. This is not the way it's done. None of the wireless carriers offer a phone directory on their websites that allow for personal information searches connected to the mobile numbers they service. Instead, they sell or lease this personal information to data compilation companies. These companies operate businesses on the Internet which distribute the reports .
What to look for in a reverse phone directory
Once you realize it's not possible to legally or ethically access personal information connected to cell phone numbers for free, it's time to make a decision. Is this information worth paying a fee for? If not, I'd suggest putting the whole matter out of your mind. If it is, then it's time to start shopping different phone number lookup directories. And there are a lot of them out there!
I've taken a look at a lot of them, and what I can say is that this kind of search is definitely not worth some form of monthly subscription, unless you're some kind of private investigator or a serious form of stalker. But as noted earlier, this kind of information has certain preconditions which must be obeyed. One of these preconditions is that it can't be used to stalk anyone. And I don't think anyone can reasonably argue against this.
The best directories won't ask you to sign up for a monthly subscription you'll more than likely never fully get your money's worth out of. What these directories instead will do is present you with two purchase options:
(a) single purchase, or
(b) yearly subscription.
There are advantages to both. If you don't think you'll ever need to search a wireless, unlisted, VoIP or fax number again, then I would suggest opt ing for the single purchase option. But if you think you may have need to search different types of phone numbers down the line, the yearly subscription will allow you to run free reports of landline numbers all year long - and provide you with access to reports that simply are not freely available using a free or public phone directory.
