How to do a reverse phone number lookup

Let's first start with a brief overview of what a reverse phone lookup is and when this search type is helpful.

Reverse phone lookup or Reverse phone number search are common phrases that refer to searching white pages records using just a phone number to find someone's name and address and identify who a telephone number belongs to.

You should use a reverse phone search when you have a phone number and want to know more about the owner.

Users often perform a reverse phone lookup when they receive a phone call from an unknown number, a spam call, or possibly just a number they don't recognize.

Anyone can do a reverse lookup to identify cell phone, landline, and spam numbers for free.

To do a reverse phone number lookup start by entering a phone number with the area code (e.g 206-867-5309), click the search icon, and review the results page, which will immediately tell you what type of phone is linked to the number. Decide if you found all the data you're looking for or if you want more information on who the phone number belongs to.

Once you've found out what type of phone number it is, there is a difference in the amount of data you'll receive for free on who owns the telephone number based on the phone type.

If you searched with a landline phone number -
you can expect to find the owner's name, address, and possibly relatives or associated businesses for free. This data is similar to what has been available in white pages phone books for years.

If you searched with a cell phone number -
you can expect to find less data for free. You will likely find the city and state associated with the cell phone number as well as mobile carrier for free. However, you won't find the owner's name or location. Cell phone data falls into a more premium category of data that requires expensive processing and cleaning to identify owner's and associated locations. As a result, to offset these expenses, companies like Whitepages charge a transactional fee or offer monthly subscriptions for this data. You can get access to cell phone owner data with Whitepages Premium.

Over the years, search capabilities and data have expanded and now you can find much more than just someone's name and address with a phone number. However, expanded data access usually comes with a cost. Whitepages.com offers free basic contact information for most landline numbers and businesses. In addition with Whitepages Premium, subscribers have access to full contact information including cell phone numbers and full address history, and users can purchase background reports that include criminal records.

Learn more about how you can look up a phone number for free.