We all know the formula to find someone's phone number, if we know their name.
Go no further than the white pages.
But what happens if all you have is his/her cellular phone number and you want to find out who the owner of that number is? What you need is a reverse cell phone directory! Mobile Phone Directories - Aren't they unlisted? - They're not published on free public telephone directories like the white pages.
This is why you haven't seen a Verizon or Sprint or any other telephone book from wireless companies.
Wireless numbers are considered personal information (unlike land numbers that belong to the public domain) and thus protected by privacy laws like the 'Wireless 411 Privacy Act'.
This is also why it is illegal for telemarketers to call your cellular phones.
Even though you don't get them on publicly available directories, all new numbers are stored to be accessed in emergency situations by the law enforcement agencies.
Numerous companies have the authorization to access these databases and you and I can find out a person's name, address, age etc by accessing these services.
Are all these companies reliable? Are there Scams? - I have not come across any outright scams that are purposely trying to steel your money.
A lot of the services out there try to do a good job as much as possible.
However there is one small hitch - Some databases are not automatically updated frequently enough.
This means they may not include the recent changes or newly obtained cell phone numbers.
And in severely outdated databases you may even get the name and address of a previous owner of that number instead of the current number.