The other day, I was listening to a friend talk about her daughter's cell phone usage. The phone seems to be attached to the girl's hand. Texts and calls come night and day. How do you know who is calling, the nice kid next door or someone more sinister? My friend is a vigilant parent and checks her child's cell phone regularly, but didn't know how to find out to whom the numbers belong.

I suggested she use a reverse cell lookup to find out exactly who was calling. Reverse cell lookups are internet sites with huge data bases of millions of cell phone numbers. Simply enter a phone number and, with a couple of clicks of the mouse, you can have the caller's name and information.

There are two kinds of reverse cell lookup sites, free sites and paid sites. In my research, I have discovered that the free sites usually have basic information. On these sites, you maybe will get the area where the phone was activated. This doesn't help much. On a paid site, you can, for a nominal fee, have the caller's name and all kinds of other information. Most paid sites will offer options for payment. Usually, you have your choice of a one time fee or unlimited lookups for 1 year.

Here's how it works: Go to the site, enter the number, pick your payment option, and voila! You now know to whom the unidentified number belongs. I hope it's that nice kid from next door.

It is my opinion that the paid sites work the best. The small yearly fee pays for itself in peace of mind.