atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Reverse Lookup

Does anyone have a suggestion for a FREE reverse lookup service? All the "free" ones ask you to pay. I used to think that free meant that you didn't have to pay, but I suppose the language I used to understand has passed me by.

Signed,

Dinosaur

I can look up numbers on whitepages.com without being asked to pay. If a search comes up empty and you select one of the options, then the pay up saga starts.

I usually use: 411.com/reverse_phone. If that doesn't work, I google.

Free seems to be a relative term now days.

In the past I have used https://www.anywho.com/reverse-lookup

I realize this is an old thread, but I am dredging it up again.

Does anyone here use the whitepages.com "premium" reverse lookup? They want you to register, provide your personal data, and, oh yeah, pay them money before they give you access. I would feel like a fool if I gave them my name and money only to get outdated, useless info in return.

The more I think about this, the more pointless it seems. The fact is that you can not trust the caller ID number you see when someone calls you, so doing a reverse lookup and/or searching google may just be a waste of time. For example, google searches tell me that 978-296-0956 and 978-933-8183 both belong to Aetna [the insurance company]. After getting pounded by these numbers non-stop, I finally called Aetna's main switchboard number and ripped them a new one. Afterwards [too late] I realized that the numbers I was seeing on caller ID could easily be fake, in which case all I accomplished was spreading more hate.

Sometime I think that the only option left is to completely disconnect from the PSTN.

Jim Bennett
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Me lurk here long time.

Another option would be a site such as 800notes.com

While the data is user driven, the site provides a way to see if a particular phone number is legit or not.

I, myself, created an account a while ago, and, every time we receive a bad call, I note it...even in the case of duplicates.

I will do an anonymous callback of standard telephone numbers, but I obviously avoid calling TFNs.

I've noticed a pattern when it comes to identifying bogus calls. Bad calls will often...but not always...show the name of a city & state on caller ID displays. Further, the names will utilize both upper and lowercase letters as opposed to the traditional display of just the name of the state spelled out in all capital letters.

What really bugs me is when the phone rings and my name and telephone number appear on the display.

I make good use of the Call Screen feature on my Avaya Partner ACS!

Just block the number and move on with your life. With all the time you are wasting you could be doing something worthwhile like volunteering at the suicide prevention line or the Boys' Club.

Or you could try wrapping your phone in tin foil. Some three-letter agency is probably out to get you.

These sales callers are getting good. I got one from some magazine and the CID spoofed our office number!

Butch Cassidy said,
If only it was that simple. Talking here about a plain old GSM mobile phone, with limited memory for blocked numbers. Some carriers, like T-Mob, have plans where you can block numbers on their system instead of relying on your phone to do it... but T-Mob only allows you to put 10 numbers on the list. Useless.

When I block a number on my phone, all it does is prevent it from ringing. The phone is still handling the call, and without voice mail enabled[1], my carrier actually rings the phone for the better part of a minute before giving the caller a "Subscriber Cannot Be Reached" intercept. So my phone won't actually be ringing during that minute, but it is still tied up and not available for me to place or receive calls.

This is not just a minor annoyance. When I say these callers pound my phone number, I mean they repeat call the number continuously. Basically the phone equivalent of a "denial of service" attack.

Keep in mind, these are callers that can claim a "prior business relationship" with the previous owner of my phone number. Actually calling them back and explaining that the number in their files is no good only makes matters worse: Often they will laugh in your face when you ask them to stop, then they usually turn up the heat even higher because now they know there is a live person at the calling end.

Yes, I know I should just change the phone number. How many times do I have to do that? How many times do I have to explain to elderly relatives that they need to learn yet another new number to reach me?

[1] Can't have voice mail enabled, or it fills up almost instantly with junk messages.

Butch Cassidy also said,
Yeah, that's it. This is all in my head.

*********

Jeff said,
Hi, Jeff! Amazing what is tolerated now, isn't it? Apparently the FCC is more focused on helping companies build shareholder value than doing their real job.

Seriously, is there something I am not getting on this Caller ID spoofing issue? I thought that allowing fraudulent information to be injected into the SS7 system was a clear violation of the license that is [was?] required to connect to the system. Seems to me that when VoIP carriers allow this crap to go on, they should lose their connection privelages. Oh wait... that would "stifle creativity" and "discourage innovation" and all that folderol. Thanks, FCC. All of our tax dollars heve clearly been well spent.

Jim Bennett
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Babbling incoherently from a secure undisclosed location.

I suspect that most of these calls originate from overseas, such as India.