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Home > Is There A Free Cell Phone Directory
Every so often a call comes in on your phone from a number you don't recognize, or you get an uncomfortable text message from a number not stored in your phone. Whatever the reason may be, everyone has a time when they want to find out who a specific number belongs to, and they flock to the Internet to seek out a free reverse cell phone directory.
Unfortunately, all those people are going to be disappointed, because there are no free reverse cell phone directories available. Websites may promise this for you, but all they can provide for you is information about the carrier or the phone number's issuing location. You won't be able to find any information about the owner of the phone or where specifically they are.
You may be wondering why such a thing doesn't exist, especially since you can do it with landline numbers. Go to the website, type in the number, and it'll provide their phone directory information. What makes cell phones so special that you can't find information about them?
Where cell phones differ from landlines is in their privacy classification. Landline telephone numbers are in the public domain. The information is available for anyone to look up. When your local area prints a telephone book, they don't need to ask your permission to print your name and telephone number, unless you specifically take steps to make it "unlisted," or unavailable for publication. Websites that do reverse lookups for landlines use this database of information, available to anyone, to find the number in question.
On the flip side, cell phone numbers are not considered public domain. This stems from the idea that, although there are many plans now with unlimited minutes, this was not always the case. It is still not the case for everybody. Many people pay for each call they receive. If cell phone numbers were public, there would be far more unsolicited calls, including calls from telemarketers, and people would have to pay for each one of those calls. This would greatly discourage anyone from getting cell phones at all. This layer of privacy was added on to help make cell phones more desirable - you shouldn't have to pay for calls you did not intend to make or receive. While this privacy is great for the cell phone user, it can make it much more difficult for those who need to find a specific number.
Even without the privacy concerns, there are so many cell phone numbers from so many different providers that compiling those records into a comprehensive directory has never been accomplished. Websites that offer to look up a cell number for a fee will simply not have a complete database.
There are different reasons you may need or want to look up a cell phone number, and those reasons can usually be addressed by other means. If you have been receiving spam or harassing calls or text messages, contact your cell provider to see about blocking the number. If you think the number might be someone you know, send them a text message or call them and ask. Simply explain you don't have their number in your phone and you are not sure who it is. More often than not, they will be happy to tell you.
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