Should you wish to hunt that cell phone number owner, you can hire a private detective to track it down, in which case, you'll have to prepare to dole out a good amount of money. A much more affordable option would be is to track the details of the cell phone number owner through a reverse lookup service.

What is a reverse lookup service? It is pretty much like looking up a number in a regular directory, except that you use the number to find a name and address, not the other way around. Out on the Internet you can find many reverse lookup companies. Many of them are good and reputable companies. But the fees they charge are not as cheap as you might hope. For finding the owner of just one cell phone number alone, they can charge you $25 each time. Some websites though just charge a one-time fee for an unlimited number of searches. The price can be as high as $59.

The price of reverse lookups has people wondering if there is a free reverse lookup service. Well, you can try. In most cases, however, you'll only find a free search on a landline number, not a cell phone number.

There's a very good reason why you won't find free reverse lookups. Cell phone service companies keep a private database of their subscribers. This database is not something that they're willing to give right away to directory companies without anything in return. They hold it tightly in their hands, and reverse lookup companies have to tickle those hands open by paying for access to the database. It can cost reverse lookup companies tens of thousands in dollars just to acquire databases from different cell phone service companies. It's a different set of dollars to keep their database updated.

In Favor Of A Reverse Lookup

It's easy to track a cell phone number owner through an online reverse lookup. Simply enter the number in the search button and the record of the number's owner will be at hand for you. A common search result would have the owner's name, address and cell phone company.

There are some companies that allow you to expand your search to include the cellphone owner's legal records that indicate if he or she has a criminal record, if he or she has ever been married, among other official and recorded information.

In choosing a reverse lookup company, the first thing you need to consider is if the company has a money-back guarantee and if the company is keen on providing customer service. If the company doesn't reply to your email within 24 hours, then it probably isn't worth it.