Today we’re going to tell you about a method to discover who any phone number belongs to. This tool can help you find out a lot of information about someone from their phone number alone. This information includes address, name and perhaps other details as well.

Of course, cell phone numbers and unlisted numbers present a difficulty here. They are not listed in the phone book. This does not, however mean they can’t be looked up. Though not in the public domain like a land line number, there is a way of finding out.

There are companies out there who put together databases of phone numbers, along with information about the number holders. They then put searchable directories together from this information which are available for people to query. These companies pay for access to unlisted numbers and cell phone records, which is how they are able to make this information available.

These directories are called “reverse phone directories” and are searchable through your web browser. Searches are performed by looking up a number rather than a name (thus the “reverse” part). Just enter the number and hit search, the built in search engine will take things from there. The results will be displayed if any information is available about the owner of the number.

Immediately following this article is a link which will allow you to do a sample search for free; try it for yourself.

These companies will charge a fee for using this type of service but it isn’t expensive. You can find some that will only charge a flat one-time fee that then lets you use unlimited searches - this is your best option so that you don’t have to pay again each time you want to run a search on a number.

There are a lot of different applications for these searches. For example, if you are receiving prank calls from a number repeatedly, this is a good way to investigate. Suspicious spouses also use these searches to see who has been calling. Really though, any time you need to check someone out armed only with their phone number.

Before you take the plunge and hand over money to one of these sites though, there is one simple and free thing you can do. Perform a Google search on the number in question: be sure to use quotation marks around the number, and search it.

A paid search isn’t terribly expensive, but Google is worth a try nonetheless. You may be surprised!

If this phone number is online on some webpage, then Google will bring it up for you. Phone numbers will make their way on the internet for a few different reasons (classified ads, profile pages etc) so there’s a chance the number you are “investigating” might just be on the web.

If your number can’t be found this way, then on to the directories. Don’t pass up a web search though, you never know where phone numbers will turn up.

It’s amazing how much you can learn from just a phone number. You can find out all sorts of information about someone through one of these directories.