Lookup Unlisted Phone Numbers: Pay Attention

To lookup unlisted phone numbers is something you'd want to do if you're in any of these situations: If you find yourself wondering where you can find, ironically, a directory of unlisted phone numbers. Or if you've found yourself at the receiving end of prank calls but the calls happened to be caller-ID blocked. Or if someone gave you a number but you couldn't remember the name (because it was the morning after).

If you find yourself in any of those situations, to lookup a free unlisted phone number search can be the easiest thing to do. But don't believe websites that purport to offer a free unlisted number finder. With these websites, in most cases, you would have to subscribe to a service provider that gives you access a database of numbers. There's a term for looking up unlisted telephone numbers: reverse lookups.

WHY THE MONEY DOWN

In a perfect situation, you would not have to pay anyone for just looking at unlisted cell phone numbers and unlisted 411 numbers and knowing to whom it belongs to. But the fact is, it costs money to gather unlisted numbers put them all in a searchable database.

The cell phone companies, for example, privately keep a list of their subscriber's numbers. They only give a copy of their own databases to data gathering companies who pay them for the information. This is why paid reverse lookups are paid - it costs money to acquire accurate information and it also costs money to keep the information updated, they literally rack up thousands of dollars.

The very best reverse lookup websites would have a database of more than a million numbers, but you really don't have to spend a fortune just get access to them. A premium reverse lookup service would typically cost between $14-$25 for a single lookup. If you're a celebrity, you're better off becoming a paid member, which costs between $39-$59.

When you do a reverse lookup you would normally be provided with this information:

• The name the owner of the number
• Owner's address
• Owner's telephone company

One some companies, the information can go as far the background information on the owner.

OTHER PLACES TO FIND

Still, you can easily search a number with the search engines, that is, if it is found in public websites or web pages that have been indexed by the search engines, like social networking sites, classified ads, and message boards. You might get lucky by simply searching for a person's name and location on Google, Yahoo or MSN. That's certainly free unlisted phone number search in its truest form.

In recent years, there have been free directories for cell phone numbers, but members primarily volunteer information. To access the numbers on these websites, you have to become a member of the website and subsequently give out your name and number. So what you get from these member directory websites is actually incomplete information.

So in the case of search engines and member directories, a free unlisted telephone numbers search really becomes a hit or miss situation. You are definitely better off paying the fees of paid reverse lookup companies, or what they call a phone registry site.