Almost all of us have caller ID built into our phones
now. This service is incredibly useful, like when you
want to avoid a nagging parent or telemarketers. But
what do you do if you don’t recognize the number on your
caller ID: Should you pick it up and risk wasting your
minutes or should you ignore it and risk missing an
important call? Luckily, there are several ways you can
find out who is calling for free.
Set Up Your Voicemail
You can save yourself a lot of hassle when it comes to
finding out who called just by setting up your
voicemail. Make sure that you actually put a
personalized message on your voicemail or many callers
might not bother leaving a message. Telemarketers (yes,
they will call your cell!) will hardly ever leave a
voice message which can help you distinguish them from
the many other business-type numbers, such as a helpful
reminder from your bank or confirmation from your travel
agency. If someone doesn’t leave a message and you still
want to find out who is calling, then you can proceed to
the next free steps.
Free Reverse Phone Lookup Sites
There isn’t a national cell phone directory but most
landlines are still listed in the White Pages. The White
Pages has always made a reverse phone directory which
you could access for free by going to your local
library. Now, it is even easier to do a reverse phone
search by going online. Do keep in mind that free
reverse phone directories will almost always only have
landline numbers. There is no national cellular
directory (except for opt-in lists) so companies have to
purchase cell phone number lists from various agencies
and databases then input this all into their digital
systems so they can be reverse searched by number. If
the person who called you did so from a landline though,
the free reverse number lookup will likely bring back
results.
Search Engines
Another way to find out who is calling you for
free is to type the number into a search engine, like
Google. In some cases, you could get lucky and find out
whose number it is if the person listed it on a social
networking profile, blog, or career page.The problem
here is that most of the phone directory websites have
cheated the search engines by typing in every single
possible phone number combination onto their webpages
(they use a computerized system to do this). So, all
your results will basically be for search directories
which will make you pay. However, the free search can
give you some clues to who called. For example, you can
find out where the number originated and think if you
know anyone from that area.
If You are Going to Pay for a Search
If you really want to know who is calling you and don’t
get results with the free methods, then you can choose
to pay for a reverse phone search. Just make sure to
choose a reverse phone search site which offers a free
trial or a guarantee for results.
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