Reverse Phone Look up: What is it?

Ever wondered how those annoying telemarketers got your number? Or has an unknown number practice pranks on you? Well, rest assured that with a small fee, you can now discover the unknown number that called you and find out personal details about that person.

Also known as greypages or reverse telephone directory, a reverse phone look up is, as its name implies, a kind of directory where numbers, instead of names and addresses are listed. This enables users of this service to lookup an unknown number and retrieves customer details such as name, address and in some cases, number of persons in a household.

How does Reverse Phone Look Up Work?

Companies which engage in reverse phone look up or greypages buy access to databases of subscribers from different phone companies and mobile phone operators. They then combine numbers taken from phone companies from all over the country and consolidate these numbers into a huge database which also contains unlisted landline numbers, listed numbers and cellphone numbers.

These greypages are also used by emergency services and law enforcement agencies in order for them to determine the origin of a certain number which may help in their investigation or to find out the origin of a distress call. As some of these numbers are unlisted and private cellphone numbers, the reverse phone look up service in this case is exclusive for internal use only.

Are There Free Reverse Look Up Services?

As all reverse phone look up services are affiliated or bound to phone companies, these services are actually not free of charge. The reason for that charge is the issue about the users’ privacy. To pay for this, the user can pay with his or her credit card or through online payment modes such as Paypal. This precaution also guarantees that the service will not be used for illegal services such as stalking.

There are countless websites in the internet that offer reverse phone look up for free. This actually does not produce results though, because these websites do not have access to the databases of phone companies. But, as I say, there are websites out there that specialize in reverse phone look up. These companies usually charge from 50 cents to 1 dollar per transaction.

If you still refuse to pay for the services of a reverse phone look up company, there are always the trusted search engines Google and Yahoo to help you. You can also look up the said number on online phone books or whitepages. But if the number is unlisted or a cellphone number, most likely the details will not be available to you.

Is This Legal?

There have been previous legal battles over the release of cellphone numbers to the public as these numbers are private. Illegal acquisition of these numbers though, may constitute to an invasion of privacy to the person who possesses that number. But do not worry, as reverse look up services are completely legal, as long as you acquired the number in a legal manner and do not use it for illegal purposes.