Free reverse phone lookups vs. reverse mobile phone number lookups
What can cause a lot of confusion when using reverse lookups to find out who may have been calling is that some calls come from landlines and others come from cell phones. The biggest difference is that land lines are much easier to trace and you may never find out who called you if they were using a cell phone. Some can be found and some cannot. Knowing the difference can help you perform your search much more efficiently.
When it comes to landlines, you have an advantage. If someone has your number listed, you can usually find it in any phone search. However, if they don’t, you still have a chance of finding the information you’re looking for. You can try calling the phone company, but unless you’re being harassed, they won’t give you numbers that aren’t on the list. Even then, they will not give you the name, but will turn it over to the authorities for further action. This is for your protection.
If you contact the phone company, you can expand your search to the Internet. You can look up the number through search engines like Google, and also through many of the reverse phone book lookups out there. Some free ones have good results, but you can’t always count on getting a number out. The rate site type usually has more numbers, and if you can’t find the number anywhere else, that’s the way to go.
If you want to use a reverse lookup for a landline, just enter the number to see what comes up. Some places may not have the number, but they can confirm that it is a landline and what general area the phone number is from. If you have a cell number, you may not know it, but the same type of reverse lookup can tell you if it really is a cell number. That can help you decide how to proceed with your search.
Cell number lookups are much more difficult, but not impossible. When it seems that this is what you have, you should look for a site that specializes in looking up cell numbers. Some of these are free, but they won’t have as many numbers. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t try them first. When these run out, you may have better luck using a fee-based reverse phone lookup service.
The thing to remember about cell numbers is that there are times when you may never know who called and can only find out by calling the number back. There are no cell phone directories, and many keep their numbers very well. Some customers have prepaid cell phone numbers, and those are the most untraceable. You can search until you’ve exhausted all your options, but some numbers will remain a mystery.