Since the phone lines started ringing in the early part of the twentieth century, it’s been difficult to figure identity unknown callers and know their reason for calling before picking up the phone. Fortunately, with the introduction of caller ID services to the general public in the late ’80s, it suddenly became possible to know exactly who was calling before picking the phone up off the dial.
The widespread growth of mobile phone technology, however, has made that information increasingly less accessible. After all, when a cell phone number rings in on caller ID, all you get is a phone number and the words “Unknown Number.”
In an effort to produce a caller ID option for cell phone numbers, online phone directories have developed mini-search engines dedicated specifically to looking up phone numbers. These specialized searches are commonly referred to as reverse phone lookups because they enable users to query a phone number in order to retrieve the name of the person associated with the account.
Many online services have been offering traditional phone directories for the last fifteen years. Reverse cell phone lookups, however, have often been harder to come by because it is illegal for cell phone companies publish their directories to the public. Because cell phone users in the use have to pay for incoming and outgoing calls, cell phone numbers are considered private information and protected from being published in public directories.
Reverse cell phone searches, on the other hand, are perfectly sound and within the boundaries of the law because they are geared specifically to help cell phone owners identify the perpetrators of unsolicited, and potentially dangerous, phone calls. While there are fees involved with running a reverse phone number lookup, they’re quite affordable, ranging between $15-20 for individual searches.
Performing a reverse cell phone lookup is fairly simple. Take the phone number you’re curious about, plug it into the search field of a reverse cell phone directory and press enter. Most directories provide a report containing the person’s first and last name, along with whatever other information is available. This information can be used to track down the organization or individual responsible for placing obnoxious calls or to simply avoid unsolicited phone calls altogether.
