For all the convenience cell phones have brought to modern life you would think that finding someone’s number would be easy. You can look up residential and business phone numbers in the phone book or call information and they are more then happy to give you what ever information you may need. But try to find someone’s cell number and it’s like hitting a dead end.

So what do you do when you know someone’s name and you know they have a cell phone but you don’t know their number? You can wish you would have asked for it in the first place but once that opportunity has passed you do have several options when it comes to finding cell phone numbers. Your level of success depends on which option you choose because some offer better results then others.

If you want to try finding the number for free then there are a couple of things you can try. The first is to use one of the major search engine portals and see what they might turn up. In today’s internet vernacular you will “Google” them and see if they have left some personal information, including their cell phone number, somewhere in cyberspace. While this is not a common occurrence you never know when you may get lucky.

If you don’t have any luck looking up their name in one of the major search engines you can then try one or more of the free cell phone directories that are starting to appear on the World Wide Web.

Your chances are better using a free directory but not as good as you might think. The big drawback to using this method is the fact that in order to use it you have to give up some personal information including your own cell phone number. This is how they create their databases of cell phone numbers, on a purely volunteer basis. As time goes by the amount of data available will increase but with hundreds of millions of cellular numbers out there it will take some time.

If the first two methods failed to get you any results or you just don’t want to waste time with them then your best chance for finding the number you need is joining a national cellular website directory. These sites are not free to use but the fee they charge are minimal when compared to the amount of information you will have access to.

If you do decide to join such a site be sure they offer a money back guarantee because although they collect and provide access to the great majority of numbers there are a few that may have slipped through the cracks. Also make sure that it is a one time fee for the life of your membership, which in most cases is a lifetime of access. It is a phone book for cell phones that can be accessed from your computer.

When it comes to finding cell phone numbers your best chance for success is with a paid reverse cellular look up service. This doesn’t mean it can’t be done using one of the free methods but only you can determine how much your time and patience is worth.