If you have ever received an unknown phone number on your caller ID, you probably were wondering who called you and why? If that unknown number keeps showing up, and you may even be feeling anxious or angry about the intrusion. When that happens, it is time to head for your computer, get on the internet and put "reverse lookup phone number" into your browser.

When you do that search, several listings will appear. Some will say "free" and to some extent that is true. You can put in the unknown phone number and see what happens. If it is a regular phone number, you may have better luck than with cell phone numbers. You may not know if the number is a cell number until you try to reverse lookup the phone number. The reverse searches go backwards from a phone number to information about who owns that number. A similar search can go on with addresses to find a person, and vice versa, taking a name and finding addresses and phone numbers.

If the number is listed under the free search website, you should be able to view a name and address of who owns the number, if it is a regular phone number. If it is a cell number and your search is successful, it may show who owns that number, or it may only show the location of the cell phone service store.

Once you get to the listing for the owner of the phone number, reverse lookup phone number websites, even the "free" ones, will show other links for additional information. You may be able to access listings of that person's neighbors, names and addresses, for free. On the other hand, if you see links for "background check" and "court records", they offer more details. For these, you will be linked to a pay website. The simple background checks you pay for run about $14.95 on average. There may be other links, such as "find out house value" but those also are pay for information sites, and are usually affiliate websites where the website owner who sends people to the next website will receive a commission if a sale results.

If you need information quickly, and more than just name and address from the phone number, it is better to save your time and just go to the pay for information reverse lookup phone number websites and get your search done faster. If you have many numbers to lookup, there are usually bulk package fees that cover multiple lookups. It is fun to put in your own numbers first just to see what comes up; it is amazing what is out there on the internet!