Three Problems With "free" Phone Lookup Services…
- Date: 2007-12-22 - Word Count: 382
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A common thing people want to do is look up a phone number. It could be to investigate a strange number that keeps coming up on your spouse's phone, to get back at a prank caller, or else just to catch up on an old friend. So, is it possible to do this for free?
The first thing you need to know is that free phone number look up services do exist. However, they are limited in a couple of ways. Here are some of the problems you'll get with free directories...
1. Free services will only ever be able to look up landline numbers (i.e. people's home phones). If you want to do a cell phone, mobile, VoIP or unlisted number look up, then you're out of luck. This is because only landline numbers are in the public domain and are freely available. Any other number database will take tens of thousands of dollars to build, because cell phone/VoIP/unlisted numbers are not freely available.
2. You'll only get a limited amount of information about the owner. If all you're looking for is the owners name and address (and the owner has a landline number), then the free directory will be enough. However, if you want more useful information such as the owner's relatives, neighbors, occupation and education, then you'll need to go for a paid service.
3. Free directories have far less numbers. Again, gathering numbers and recording information about each owner is extremely time consuming, and it's hard to find people who'll invest tens of thousands into gathering the information and then give it away free. The bottom line is that paid directories have far more numbers, so you're much more likely to get a result.
Often, when you do a search on free directories, you'll get a "results pending" message. When this comes up, it means the number does not exist in the database, and most likely never will. If you search for a cell phone number in a free directory, then you will not get a result.
Paid services are easier to search, have larger databases, and give more information. Not all sites are created equal, though. Some paid directories are no better than free ones. Therefore, in order to find the truly exceptional paid directories, you need to know where to look.
The first thing you need to know is that free phone number look up services do exist. However, they are limited in a couple of ways. Here are some of the problems you'll get with free directories...
1. Free services will only ever be able to look up landline numbers (i.e. people's home phones). If you want to do a cell phone, mobile, VoIP or unlisted number look up, then you're out of luck. This is because only landline numbers are in the public domain and are freely available. Any other number database will take tens of thousands of dollars to build, because cell phone/VoIP/unlisted numbers are not freely available.
2. You'll only get a limited amount of information about the owner. If all you're looking for is the owners name and address (and the owner has a landline number), then the free directory will be enough. However, if you want more useful information such as the owner's relatives, neighbors, occupation and education, then you'll need to go for a paid service.
3. Free directories have far less numbers. Again, gathering numbers and recording information about each owner is extremely time consuming, and it's hard to find people who'll invest tens of thousands into gathering the information and then give it away free. The bottom line is that paid directories have far more numbers, so you're much more likely to get a result.
Often, when you do a search on free directories, you'll get a "results pending" message. When this comes up, it means the number does not exist in the database, and most likely never will. If you search for a cell phone number in a free directory, then you will not get a result.
Paid services are easier to search, have larger databases, and give more information. Not all sites are created equal, though. Some paid directories are no better than free ones. Therefore, in order to find the truly exceptional paid directories, you need to know where to look.
Related Tags: cell phone, reverse phone, cell phone reverse lookup, lookup unlisted phone numbers, reverse lookup phone numbers, cell lookup, phone lookup, phone detective, reverse cell, engineer phone
Want to do a free reverse phone look up right NOW?Just visit Lookup Unlisted Phone Numbers and do a search in the top left hand box.Steve Jackowski runs Reverse Lookup Phone Numbers. He has extensive experience in the reverse phone number lookup field, with over 10 years worth of experience. Visit his site now for some of the best resources you will ever find. Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles
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