From the time you bought a cell phone, you must have answered an average of 500 tiresome calls from unknown numbers. These calls strike anytime, anywhere; most often annoying you with brand promotional details or it could just be a wrong number. Wouldn’t it be great if you could somehow identify these unknown numbers and avoid the calls? This is where reverse phone number lookup services are of great help.

So what is a reverse phone number lookup service? These services specialize in revealing the details of unknown phone calls that you receive on your mobile phone. These services store millions of numbers in their database and can be used to find out details such as the name and address of the unknown number.

How does a reverse phone number search work?
The best place to start for a phone number lookup is the landline number for a business or residence. Before the advent of the Internet, reverse phone directories were published for specific areas and made available to the public and police. These reverse white pages contained information on numbers listed as business or residential. They did not, however, include unlisted, fax or mobile phone numbers.

With mobile phones gaining popularity, published reverse white pages are now obsolete. Now, reverse phone number directories are available as search engine functions. There are many options available online for phone lookup of landline numbers; some of them are free, while others are paid services.

Google Phonebook is a free online directory that provides details on the caller name, street address, and a location map. All you need to do is type the phone number in the search field by separating the numbers with hyphens. However, not all numbers are listed here.

The second option is to search for a “reverse phone lookup” in Google. You will get a list of websites offering reverse lookup services. You can choose one of the services and follow the instructions to retrieve details of the unknown landline number. WhitePages.com, AnyWho.com, and Addresses.com are top free reverse phone number lookup websites.

Reverse phone number lookup for cell phones
There are no free services available for reverse lookup for cell phone numbers. Cell phone numbers are usually issued by private mobile phone companies, unlike landline numbers that are issued by interlocking systems of regional phone companies. This makes it hard to track details of unknown numbers. There are many paid reverse number lookup services available on the Internet. These services charge a onetime fee for a single lookup. For unlimited reverse phone number searches, you need to pay an annual fee. Reputed websites do not charge for searches that do not yield any information. Intelius Inc. is the largest provider of reverse phone number lookup.

Plenty of websites are available for extracting the information from the Internet for landline or cell phone lookup.