Lobbyists helped establish laws which prevent the publication of cell phone numbers and names by wireless carriers. Those laws, however, do not prevent third parties from collecting that information and offering it online.
These third party companies, called reverse cell phone directories, use a number of methods to gather personal information about cell phone owners and then allow others to tap into those files and get the name, address, and background information on a cell phone owner.
While reverse cell phone directories charge for these full phone reports, they do give some free information about each cell phone number in their file. Type in the mobile number in question and get the basic location of the place the mobile account was first established, a picture of the city and a visual of the phone owner’s address area.
How do these reverse lookup directories get this information legally? They buy marketing lists, utilize social networking sites that offer members the ability to opt-in their cell phone number for publication, and they scour public records databases for information about everyone on file.
All of the resources they use to get this information costs them money – either in the form of employees who gather and code the information or in form of computers and servers used to store the information and make it available online.
The fact that these directories incur an expense to make this information available explains why a full reverse phone report on a cell number costs money and only basic information is given out for free.
If all you need is that basic information and nothing more specific, than simply find a reputable, online reverse cell phone directory, enter the cell phone number in the directory’s search box, and view the information they display for free.
Once you’ve seen the free information, you can choose to leave the site or decide to buy the additional information on file. The choice is yours. Regardless of which choice you make, no one will even know you looked up their file at all. Just make sure to use a directory that has up to date records and information and get a general location for the cell phone number online for free.
