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Reverse Phone Lookup is used to find out the details of a person, such as name, address and other information related to him, from his phone number. How many a times have we wondered about a missed call from an unknown number on our cellphone? How often have we seen a phone number on our Caller Id and failed to recognize who the caller was? The answer to all these questions lies in cell phone numbers. Unlike the White Pages and the Yellow Pages which give the number of an individual or a business upon searching a name, phone lookup does just the opposite. If you have a number and you want to find out the name of its owner, this is the tool you would use.

Before the Internet era, reverse phone number facility were put up as reverse phone directories or reverse white pages. These directories contained information about businesses facilities and residences, but they didn’t include unlisted, fax or cell phone numbers. With the advent of Internet these paper directories were replaced by online databases, information from which could be accessed through search engines. These directories are prepared in some countries by the telecommunication service providers themselves and in other countries by individuals who gather information available on public domain and add a search function for ease of finding the numbers.

Reverse telephone directories such as the grey pages or criss-cross directory, as well as internet based reverse phone lookup tools are used by a variety of users, including the police and other emergency services to track where a call originated from. While normal users would settle for basic directories providing only the name of the caller, specialized users such as the emergency services would require more sophisticated reverse lookup tools.

In practice, it is easier to reverse lookup a landline number of a business facility or a residence as compared to a cellphone number. This is because landline numbers are issued by regional phone companies which function together unlike the cellphone numbers which are issued by mobile phone companies that work individually. This separation between mobile service providers makes it more complicated to access and integrate user information. There are also instances when mobile service providers safeguard the privacy of their subscribers and hence do not divulge their details. The subscribers might feel providing their cellphone numbers is an invasion of their privacy. This however does not mean that a reverse lookup facility is impossible in case of cellphones. There are subscribers who want to know the identity of the person calling them when they see an unknown number on their mobile phones and hence would not mind putting their own mobile numbers on reverse lookup directories. Reverse lookup can be performed on mobile numbers through different website that charge for finding the details of the person whose number is known to the user requesting the information.

To get more details about a number, internet savvy users can use Google Phonebook to lookup number they want to search. So the next time you get a call from an unknown number, donít forget that you can use reverse lookup facilities to know more.