I have written about the topic of reverse cell phone listings earlier, and I still haven’t come across any site that offers this kind of service for free. The nearest I have come are sites that tell you whether they have any results on the search you have done, but you have to pay to see the actual cell phone number listing.

Free cell phone listings in some countries

This is frustrating, because in many countries, free cell phone listings are a given. But in the US the cell phone carrier’s guard their customer data like it was gold. And gold it is for them, because they do actually share their data IF you pay enough. That is exactly what paid cell phone listings sites do. They pay the different carriers for their data, and then sell per listing, monthly, or yearly, subscriptions to their web site visitors.

And that is perfectly fine, because many of the cell phone listing companies offer great services. Making money isn’t a crime either, especially when offering it for free and making their money through advertisement isn’t a viable business plan.

Just to make sure that there isn’t anyone who offers such services for free, I did a bit more digging today. I went through the Yahoo directory pages for phone numbers and addresses, and reverse lookup directories. Mind you, there are many sites listed there, so I wasn’t able to go through all of them, but I guess the saying “when you’ve seen one, you have seen them all”.

The listing I am referring to are paid listings, this means that the web sites have paid to be included in Yahoo’s directory. That would bias towards sites that charge money for their services. Ok, let’s have a look at the findings, as I run through a couple of the sites.

Review of cell phone directories

I used the phone number +1 (414) 961-1000 to do my testing, which is the main phone number of Manpower offices in the US. This isn’t even a cell phone number, so the sites shouldn’t have any problems giving me the telephone number listing for free.

AnyWho.com
This is a service that seems to be a part of the AT&T group. The website looks clean and promising, but when I use their reverse lookup feature, no results come up for the number. They do, of course, suggest using a different service to do a new lookup, but that is a paid service.

WhitePages.com
Ok, now we are getting somewhere. This site was able to return the correct results for the phone number above, which proves that landline number reverse lookups can be done for free online.

This means we have to broaden the testing with a new number, this time a cell phone number. I will use a number that I know is listed in at least one of the paid reverse cell phone number sites, but I won’t publish the number here due to privacy issues.

WhitePages.com – continued
Ok, so back to this site, which did give me the results for my landline test. Now, I entered the cell phone number in question, and bam, no results for the phone number. But as sure as the summer comes after winter, it did list an alternative site that indeed did have a listing for the number. Of course, this site was a site that charges you to see the results, so no free reverse cell phone lookup here. On to the next site…

Free reverse cell phone lookups com
A site similar to mine, reviewing the paid services and informing people why listings aren’t free. Doing a search here simply tell you that you have to pay to see the results.

Ok, I will stop there because the results won’t be any different no matter how many sites I try. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with the sites above. They are all actually really good. I just want to get the point across that you won’t be able to do free reverse cell phone lookups on the Internet. It’s that simple, and until someone proves me otherwise I rest my case. Cell phone number listings cost money!

Many options to choose from

Think for a moment how often you utilize your cellular telephone. Are you on it five times a day, once a day or maybe two times each week? Depending on how much you use your cell phone, a plan such as cell phones pay as you go might be an ideal option to consider. While this may not sound that appealing, you should first investigate all there is to offer nowadays. It is not like it was with prepaid phones that were plain, unattractive and lacking in some way or another. Now you can choose from a wide array of cell phones pay as you go. There are a number of popular phone models available that may interest you. You can see most of these mobile phones online, and the prices too.

All you need is a credit card

With cell phones pay as you go, you simply pay for the phone itself one time. At this point you can pay for a number of minutes by calling a certain number and adding time to your account. This is not difficult at all, and all you need is a credit card to add minutes. To give you an idea of what a minute costs, think along the lines of 10 cents. On a side note, there is no monthly bill with this kind of cell phone plan. Once you have the mobile phone you choose, that’s it. You’re then set and can add as many minutes as you need when you need them. If your phone runs out, you can call immediately and add more. This is a wonderful alternative route to the routine cell phone plans.

No contracts involved

Think about most cell phone plans and bills people get locked into all the time. This is how most people approach the cell phone market. They sign a contract that is for one year or more, and then they proceed to receive a monthly bill that often tacks on more and more fees. You do not have this dilemma with cell phones pay as you go plans. There is no contract involved, and you don’t have to worry about a cell phone company that’s going to nickel and dime you to death. Take some time to check out all of the current cell phones that apply to the pay as you go plan online or in a local Best Buy store.

Are there Free Reverse Cell Phone number lookup listings on the Internet?

Unfortunately, I have not found ANY free directories or cell phone listings that let you do a reverse cell phone lookup, or trace, on the Internet. The short answer is because the cell phone carriers do not provide their customer data to directories. The long answer can be found in the article Free Reverse Cell Phone lookups.

Why should I pay for a Reverse Cell Phone Lookup?

Because you will not get them for free, as I mentioned above, and because the services of the paid directories and cell phone listings are very good. You can pay for unlimited reverse/trace and people lookups, and also get privacy protection on your own cell phone number. Best of all, the services are very affordable.

But when I do a search in Google, several “free” directories show up

Even though they claim to be free, I have still not found a single site that allows you to enter a cell phone number and view the reverse/trace results. They might indicate that they have found a record, but to be able to actually see the record, you have to pay.

Where can I do Reverse Cell Phone lookups at an affordable price?

You can simply insert the cell phone number you want to trace in search box on the top or bottom of this page and click enter. You will then be taken to our preferred lookup provider.

What are reverse lookups?

A reverse cell phone lookup is when you have someone’s number, say they can you and you do not recognize the number, and do a search (or trace) of that number and find out who owns it.

What does “Trace cell phone numbers” mean?

A cell phone number trace is the same as a reverse cell phone lookup, where you find the owner of a number by doing a search.

Isn’t there any way to trace a cell phone number with out paying?

For best results you really need to use a paid service. However, there are some methods you can try and sometimes you can be lucky. Read the article Reverse Cell Phone search for more information.

Enter a Cell Phone Number for Reverse/Trace lookup:

Local exchanges

When it comes to your home phone service, you are going to have the traditional telephone exchanges that you have always had while living there. Some small towns only have one prefix, so you already know what that will be. However, larger places have many, and that means your prefix might be different from the neighbor, and might change even if you only move a block away. Though those telephone exchanges are to identify the town in which you live, they do not say where you live within that town.

Cell phones

When it comes to cell phones, the rules about telephone exchanges are not the same as they used to be. While you can find out the location of a phone simply by looking at the area code, the prefix that most cells will have will not be familiar. This is because the rise in cell phone ownership means that new telephone exchanges were necessary. Some of them might be foreign looking, and you may not know they are coming from your own community, even when someone might be right next door. You also have to consider that some get contracts out of area, and that means the exchanges will mean nothing in terms of location.

Find out who has called

When you are hoping to find out who may have called your home or your cell phone, you can try to use the telephone exchanges to see if you can figure out where a number has come from. There are many tools online that you can use to find out who called, and even why they were calling you. Sometimes just finding out about the telephone exchanges that are connected with a number can tell you a lot about who might be calling. If you are receiving threatening phone calls, this is important information for your family to have, and should be shared with the police at once.

Candybar

Some prefer standard candybar cell phones because all of the keys, functions and screen are laid out in the open. Common bar cell phones are Nokia and Sony Ericcson models.

Sliding Cell Phone

Some people prefer the sliding cell phone, like the LG Chocolate and several Samsung models. These phones tend to be pretty fashion forward.

Flip Cell Phones

Others would rather purchase flip cell phones, also known as clam shell phones, because buttons can’t get pressed when you put your phone away in your bag or in your pocket. You have a smaller chance of surfing the internet without even knowing it or accidentally giving someone a call. Sliding cell phones can have this advantage too, but the screen is still exposed and that might be a problem if you’re a chronic cell phone dropper. Flip cell phones are considered fashionable as well—past models used to be slightly bulkier than candybars or slides, but some of the newer flip cell phones are even slimmer than some of their candybar counterparts.

Swivel phone

A less common design is the trendy swivel phone, which can rotate 360 degrees as it carries out its functions. And then there’s the smartphone—lately it’s all about the iPhone or the Blackberry.

Pros and cons

Each of the models has its pros and cons. Candybar phones tend to be generic. Flip cell phones can be slippery and difficult to open for some, though some have this gripe about sliding phones. Some also worry that flip cell phones can potentially break in half between the two “clam shells.” Swivel phones are cool, but they can be more of a novelty than a tool. As for smartphones, they’re pretty expensive, and they might be too bulky for some cell phone users. They also have an exposed screen, so many people shell out extra money for the carrying case (being smartphone users, they can probably afford it). A smartphone can practically be someone’s life, so if you lose it you could potentially lose everything, whereas with a normal phone you’d mostly be losing the ability to make calls and texts.

Deciding factors

You’ll decide what kind of cell phone to buy depending on your budget, preferences and priorities. There are countless model options, and one of them is bound to catch your interest. Also keep in mind that the cell phone itself is just half of it—you should consider cell phone plans as well so you might limit your options to the phones that your desired phone company offers, or choose a custom phone from a local electronics store.

200 million subscribers

Of the twenty largest mobile phone companies, several are based in the United States. The largest of those mobile phone companies is Verizon Wireless, with AT&T mobility just behind. Those two combine for cell phone listings of nearly 170 million customers. Add in T-Mobile, a Germany company that has a large presence in the United States (the largest of any foreign mobile phone companies), and the number balloons to more than 200 million subscribers.

For some perspective, bear in mind that the world’s largest mobile phone companies are China Mobile, which has over 500 million customers, and England based Vodafone, which has over 600 million. Vodafone’s primary market is in Europe, but they’ve also branched out heavily into the African continent as well.

Cell phones and Africa

Sociologists who’ve studied Africa over the last 15 years have noted how profoundly mobile phone companies have effected that continent. Americans and Europeans think of their phones as communication devices, by-and-large. For Africans (as well as many southeast Asians) it is much more than that. The cellphone is a mobile office, a lifeline of economics and sustenance. And it’s not just the ease of communication offered in a place where, just 20 years ago, the majority of people didn’t even have landlines. It’s also the economics of the entire mobile phone industry that effect Africa, from the ground up.

Coltan is a mineral found plentifly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of Africa’s largest countries and one that’s been at a state of constant war for nearly a century. More valuable per ounce than even gold or platinum, Coltan is at the heart of this civil war and at the heart of the transistors of every cellphone in the world. Without it, mobile phone companies would be bankrupt. With it, more than 5 million people have been killed in the wars of the Congo over the past several decades.

Conclusion

It’s amazing to think about how far these companies have come in such a short time, given the recency of celluar technology on a grand scale. As recently as ten years ago, there were many people without celluar phones. Today, however, it’s estimated that eighty-five percent or more of all adult Americans aged between 18 and 65 own and use a cell phone.

Use a search engine

One way that you can find personal information about someone through the Internet is to use a search engine. Type in their name (and/or nickname if they have one) and see what you get in the way of results. Any mention of that person by name will come up for you somewhere and you can read what was said or written. If you add a location like state or town, you may get more narrow and relevant results. You might just find news stories, pictures, and other items that are of interest to you and that can tell you a lot about someone.

Difficult to know who to trust

Do you have a page through any of the social networks out there? Do you have your page set to private? If so, you may think that there is no way someone could find personal information about you through those private pages, but that is not true. All it takes is one person you trust to pass on what you have posted. It is very hard to know who to trust so unless your friend list is very, very small, you probably have at least one person that would dish on you if asked. The same can be said for someone you are searching for, but who also have a private profile. Remember that when you need to find information on someone.

Search through social networks

On the other hand, that someone you are searching out could not care much about their profile pages being private. They may have them public for the world to see and they may share much more than they think they are sharing. They may just assume those on their list of friends are the only ones looking, but if their profile is public, you can see their blogs, posts, pictures, videos, and everything else they have chosen to post. After you search by name through a search engine, search by name through each social network you can think of to find personal information about anyone.

Pay for premium searches

There are other ways to find personal information on someone through the Internet. There are some records that you may think of as personal but that are also available if you know where to look. There are places online where you can find out if someone has arrest or jail records, court records, and other types of legal and personal records. At times you can find this for free, and other times you can pay for what you want. Either way, don’t think that you can not find what you need if you need it badly. It’s out there if you search for it.

If you are not on a budget, or it is is extremely important for you to find the owner of a cell phone number, simply insert the number in our search box below.

Free Reverse Cell Phone Search methods

First of all a short disclaimer, the quality of your results when using these methods are not guaranteed. They are simply ways of searching for the owner of a cell phone number without using a paid cell phone listings or directory. Since there are no free, universal, number directories, this is your best shot with out paying for a premium service.

Google the number

Probably the best way to find an owner of a number is to google the number. Many people have their number posted on a web site, with their name attached. As an example, if the number is provided by an employer it is common to list employee numbers on the company web page. Others might have their number posted on their own web page.

Tips: If the result page for a search returns too many pages, try adding “Phone:” or “Cell” to the search phrase, ie. “Phone: xxx xxx xxxx”. You can also try to add a state or area code, if you have a hunch.

Search the free directories

As I have mentioned, there are no free, universal, directories for reverse cell phone searches. However, there are some limited, user/volunteer-based, directories that might be worth a shot. Since I haven’t found one yet that actually is worth using, or doesn’t simply send you to a paid service, I can not recommend any at the time being.

Is the hassle worth it?

If you feel that the hassle isn’t worth it, try a premium directory like Phone Detective, Reverse Mobile, or simply enter a number in the search box below.

Cell phones are taking over for landline numbers, and in 2009 many people have nothing else then their cell phone number. It is therefore very practical to be able to do a name search, to find a person’s number, or do a reverse look up on cellular phone number, to find the owner.

Many web sites claim to offer free reverse cell phone lookups and listings for free. However, do they?

Why are universal directories hard to find

Before the question is answered, an explanation of why there isn’t a universal directory for cell phone number listings, as there is for landline numbers. The cell phone carrier companies are very protective of their customer’s numbers. That is, if you don’t pay for access to them. That means that if you want to build a directory of numbers, you have to pay all the different carriers for access, and build a “universal” directory based on the numbers you obtain.

Do web sites offer free, universal, directories?

This leads to the answer of the question; Do web sites that claim to offer free reverse cell phone number look ups actually deliver free results? The answer is no. I have not been able to find a directory that actually lets you see the results for free. Many claim to, and even let you do a search and tell you if it hits any thing, but to see the results you have to pay.

The reason for this is, as stated above, because access to the numbers from the carriers is expensive, and giving it away for free to a web site visitor is unfortunately not a viable business venture.

The advantage to using a paid vs. a free reverse cell phone lookup service is that the results are usually very good. They provide you with unlimited reverse/trace and people search, and are very affordable.

Enter a Cell Phone Number for Reverse lookup: