If multi-billion dollar corporations fail to build a reverse cell phone number directory… who’s got the time, money, and ability to build one?

YOU do!

That’s right… the same way that Wikipedia built a encyclopedia that dwarfed Britannica… new “next-generation” phone directories are quickly emerging as THE place to run free reverse phone number lookups.

Here’s how they work:

Let’s say that you are receiving calls from an unknown number and you want to find out who owns the phone number… but you want the information for free (you don’t want to pay for a traditional revere phone number lookup)…

So, you can surf over to one of these new phone number directories and run a free reverse phone lookup.

If the number isn’t listed in their reverse phone number directory… you can fill out a quick and easy form to “request” information about the phone number.

From there, the thousands of other users can see your reverse phone number request and post any information they have about the number…

Multiply small tidbits of information from each number times hundreds of people and you’ll get all the information you need!

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Well, there are a few small drawbacks to these services.

1. To get more info, you have to “declare” your search….

If you’re trying to run a totally private search (you don’t want anyone to know about) then these websites aren’t a very good idea….

While you don’t have to put your real name into the database, you can still alert the owner of the number that you’re looking for them.

2. The coverage is commercially-focused…

While there are a few “vigilantes” that will track down numbers for other people… but these people are rare. Instead the numbers that are easiest to find are commercial phone numbers because they are more likely to call (and annoy) more people.

But, while these services aren’t necessarily ideally suited for your purposes… they can still be very valuable…. And heck, other reverse phone number lookup services cost up to $75 per number… and these are free!

So where can you go?

There are a lot of these websites out there… but really the phone number directory is only as valuable as the number of people who use it. So you’re better off if you just focus on the biggest sites.

These sites are WhoCalled.us and 800Notes.com…

Of course, if you don’t get the information that you’re looking for… and the number that you’re searching for isn’t in these databases, you’ll probably have to pay to get access to the owner information.

I recommend Reverse Phone Detective as my “favorite” reverse cell phone number lookup service… but there are lots of services on the web (many are total scams)… maybe I’ll add a reverse phone number lookup review soon.

Also... check out these tips for using free reverse phone lookup sites.

Lookup Cell Phone Rate Centers