There are many reasons for doing a reverse cell lookup and these can vary from wanting to stop prank calls or find out if your spouse is cheating on you. Unfortunately while your reasons for finding that number may differ one thing won't and that is how difficult it can be to try and find a cell number.

The reason why it's difficult is because cell network providers do not make their customer numbers public. Therefore unlike your landline which is usually in the White Pages, unless you have an unlisted number, you will have to resort to other means to find the number.

There are three ways to go about this, one involves a small fee (more on that later).

The first free way is to go on the net. Type in the cell number in double quotes in the search box of your favorite search engine. You will usually get a number about 30% of the time but unfortunately most times you won't get the ownership details that you are after. This involves more work and can take 1 to 2 hours and there is a 90% chance you won't be able to get the cell number owner. So I guess the question is how much is your time worth?

The other (almost free way) is to call the number. This however isn't a good idea if it's a prankster or a stalker as the person will just change numbers as this individual will still have the advantage of anonymity. If you do use this method then use *67 (id block) and use an outside booth- let them do the talking! I thought I'd put this information in because I know that it has worked for some people but again it's the least preferred of all the methods that I have mentioned.

The most sensible and effective way is to use a reverse cell phone directory. This will cost some money usually between $10 and $35. The reason for this is that cell phone numbers aren't in the public domain so there are companies out there who get access to those numbers and put them on an online database and this 'costs money'. So it's only fair that they charge you for the information!

You have to be very careful when you select one of these databases as there are a few scam companies out there. The best directories are those that allow you to do a preliminary search of their database. If the number is there then there will be a prompt to say that the information that you have requested on the reverse cell lookup is available.

The information will be presented in a report which will give you the cell number owner, the cellular network and the cell phone owners billing address to start with. What this means is that you will have the owners details without them knowing it so as you can either go to the police if it's a persistent prankster or 'out' your spouse if there has been cheating in the relationship!