Monday, May 2, 2011

Top 8 Sites to Identify The Owner Of A Phone Number

Phone numbers are a little like fingerprints. They can reveal a lot about a person, for example their name or where they live.
If you have a missed call from an unknown phone number, you may want to identify the phone number of the person who tried to reach you before you dial that number. Chances are you’re hooking up with a telemarketer. Eventually some random person simply dialed the wrong number. Or it’s your long lost best friend who finally found you. You never know.
There are several free online tools to reverse lookup and identify a North American phone number. However, with cell phone numbers it’s almost impossible to find out the identity of the person behind the phone number. Unless you are willing to pay.
Sadly, most seemingly free services will redirect you to a paid option, even if it’s possible to find the information for free elsewhere. To avoid these pitfalls, I have compiled a list with services for reverse phone number search and how to use them.

1. WhoCallsMe? (Worldwide)

identify phone numberIf you suspect that a telemarketer called you, this is the service you should try. Enter the number in the search field and hit “Get Details“. If the number is not listed, no one has had complaints about it yet.
The database at WhoCallsMe? is supplied by its users. So if you have been receiving unsolicited calls from telemarketers, surveyors, charities or other organizations, help others avoid these people by entering their phone number and details into WhoCallsMe?’s database.
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A similar page is Who Called Us.

2. Google PhoneBook (North America)

For North American landline numbers, Google is an excellent choice to identify a phone number. For listed US numbers, Google may return a phonebook result that looks like this:
identify phone number
It reveals the name and address of the person who owns the respective number. Using the convenient GoogleMaps link you can look up in what neighborhood they live.
identify phone number
For other numbers, Google may return links to local online phone books.
Now you could directly go to one of your local online phone books. Which one you choose of course depends on where you are. Unfortunately, I can’t list one for each country. Besides, reverse phone number search is restricted in and unavailable for several countries, including Australia and the UK.
The following four sites are for Canada and Germany. They basically all work the same – you find the reverse lookup option, enter the number, and hit search. So without further comments, here it goes…

3. 411 (Canada)

whose phone number is this

4. Canpages (Canada)

whose phone number is this

5. Das Telefonbuch (Germany)

whose phone number is this

6. Das Örtliche (Germany)

i need to know who a phone number belongs too
These were your options for landlines.
But what if you’re trying to identify a cell phone number? Honestly, I could not find a free tool for identifying the owner of a given number.
However, due to the nature of North American cell phone numbers, the prefix reveals the location of the caller. The most you can find out for free on top of that, is the name of the provider and when the number was registered.

7. Cell Phone Tracer (North America)

This website will find you the the phone carrier and the location of the given phone number. If you choose to continue to receive the entire available information, you will be asked to pay.
i need to know who a phone number belongs too

8. Cellphone Registry (North America)

The Cellphone Registry may be able to tell you when the phone number in question was registered. Unlike the previous website, it was not able to find the phone carrier. And all further information is available for cash only.
i need to know who a phone number belongs too
Did we miss an online phonebook for your country with reverse lookup option? Please feel free to request a link or provide us with the resource in the comments!
Image Credit: iprole

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Tina Sieber
Tina has been with MakeUseOf since late 2007. She has contributed over 300 articles and is also the Editor for MakeUseOf Answers.

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  • Elia Kernell 1 year ago
    This Stinksand such a bore!
  • this was a very useful page for me as i was gettin calls from this other number in Greece ta 4 helping me track it down Kev,Zimbabwe
  • I was once trying to get this information last year, and wasn't able to find any free service which provides that. I wish I knew about Google providing this service for free at that time.
  • Sheldon Swartz 1 year ago
    Too bad you have to pay for this information. I thought makeuseof was not about pay-for sites? Even the URL in the article was wrong.
  • Sheldon,

    MakeUseOf is all about free tools! We do not promote using pay options, but if there is no other option, we will point it out. People would come and ask for it anyhow.

    So in this case (cell phone numbers) only part information is available for free and I explained how to access it. I merely mentioned that finding the full information was not free.

    Which URL did you find to be wrong? Google PhoneBook? There is no direct link. As seen in the screenshot, the PhoneBook option comes up when Google finds an entry for a given number.
  • Which site are you referring to? I am well familiar with most of the above sites and as far as I am aware they are free.
  • Pleased as Pumpkin Pie 1 year ago
    I found this article to be surprisingly useful and super convenient. Thank you for your thoughtfulness in compiling this list.
  • Thank you very much for the positive feedback!
  • The Swiss Phonebook http://tel.search.ch/
  • Yea it is good because it tels you also how many people there are with that name. great site!
    what about mobile fones this was for landlines.
  • Great site, use it alot! 1 great feature tells you how many people there are in switzerland with the same name.
  • Thank you for sharing MJ!
  • This will come in handy thanks! To bad you have to pay for the cell phones :( But when ever I need a number from Switzerland!
  • you should really include "http://www.free411.com"
    An excellent resource!
  • Rick,
    thank you for sharing. This service is US only.
    Here is the direct link for the reverse phone lookup:
    http://www.free411.com/search....
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