Have you ever gotten repeated calls from the same number but you aren't sure who it's from? Or maybe you keep getting prank calls and you want to put a stop to it? No matter the reason, one of the frustrating things about cell phones these days is the inability to look up names and numbers in an online phone book.

At some point, each of us will probably need to use a reverse phone look up. Missed calls or harassing phone calls can be traced with the help of such a service. It is of immense help in these kinds of frustrating situations since the details about the unknown person can be discovered easily so that you can report them to the appropriate authorities. Oftentimes, children are also harassed by phone. Therefore, parents will also want to use it for the safety of their kids.

Married people who are suspicious of their partner are also using this service. Such people can easily find out if their wife or husband is having an unhealthy affair. A reverse lookup becomes very useful for everyone. There are instances when certain families have been tormented for long periods of time. Without knowing the origin of these phone calls, they really won't be able ti do anything about them. However, with the use of a of reverse phone search, all your problems can easily be solved.

There are many different reverse lookup services out there. I've tried several, with mixed results. For example, I have used free reverse phone look up services, only to have limited results -- usually restricted to land line numbers that are publicly listed. This is no good in a world where cellular users and unlisted numbers are higher than ever.

I wasn't satisfied with my results until I started using this special service. Not only was I able to locate unlisted numbers, but I was also able to successfully use the directory that included cell phone and mobile numbers. The fact of the matter is that all cell number directories have to be compiled manually, which means you just won't get access to a directory like this on a free site.

Conventional residential and business phone numbers can be looked up either in the regular phone book or its close relative, the reverse lookup book. It's simple and easy but for cell phones there is no book because the cellular companies closely guard their customer name and number lists, unless of course they can make some money from them.

There's no central database of cell phone numbers, so most free reverse phone lookup sites can't return information about such numbers. In addition, if the number is a land line, but is unlisted or non-published, you won't be able to get the info you need either.

There's little point trying lots of different phone number lookup websites in order to find who owns a telephone number, either. Generally they all use the same databases, so if you don't find the number at one, then you're very unlikely to find it anywhere else. Ultimately, if you really need the number, you'll probably have to use a paid site, but it's not always easy to know which one to choose.