Do cell phone directories exist? If so, are they legal? Obviously, finding a landline number is easy-just go to Google and type it in quotes.
Then the owner's information comes up instantly.
Finding cell phone data is a bit more challenging.
Quite simply, it is not available in free directories.
This is because of privacy laws.
Here are 7 FAQs to get you the info you need: #1) So where can you get mobile phone numbers? They are found in cell phone specific directories.
#2) Who maintains them? Sometimes the same directories that have landline numbers include mobile numbers-albeit for a price.
Sometimes private detective maintain these directories as well.
In other words, there is no official "national directory.
" They are all kept up by private organizations.
#3) Why aren't they free? Because they have to pay the cell phone companies a large sum to get access to their database.
If they were to offer it for free, they would lose a LOT of money.
#4) Is it expensive? Not really.
It generally costs around $15-40, depending on whether you just want to lookup one number, or get a year long pass.
#5) Do these directories work? Yes-in most instances they have about 98% of the total mobile phone numbers listed.
#6) What information do they give? In most cases you can see the owner's name, living location, employment history, along with some other details.
#7) Is there any sort of money back guarantee? Most legit companies do provide a refund if the number you want is not in their database.
However, in most cases you are able to do a search before paying to ensure they have the number you want.
The bottom line: public directories do not have mobile phone data because of privacy laws.
For this reason, you have to go with cell phone directories.