Indeed phone directories also had to evolve with this new technological change which has been brought about. These days, various companies have already launched their online cellular phone directories. People of various phone companies may be looked up through these online directories and it would be easy to get their numbers. What is great about this is that in case of urgent matters and you are not aware of the person’s personal contact information, you would be able to access their number and communicate with them right away. After all, communication these days plays a vital role in our lives. This does make things a lot easier for us. You might although be asked to pay a minimal fee for the service. It does, however, come with a guarantee. If they are unable to find any listing of that person, then you don’t have to pay anything. How this works is that the computer will look up to other various online directories and databases in order to give you a comprehensive result list.

There have been, however, mixed reactions towards this Cellular Phone Directory. Some have found it very beneficial since it does seem to make things a lot easier for them. Bridging gaps has been far made easier. Those friends who you would want to get in touch with would simply be a click away. You don’t have to go all through that fizz of asking people around as to how to contact your other lost friends. There have been, however, negative reactions as to the question of respect of the rights of privacy of various individuals have been raised. Some people have found it obscured to have their numbers out in the public. Various companies however are already working on ways for this to be ironed out and make communication access beneficial for everyone.

In the case of unlisted numbers, practices as to Caller-ID vary by jurisdiction. Sometimes, the Caller-ID on outbound calls is blank; in other jurisdictions, unlisted numbers still appear, unless the caller dials a blocking code; in still others, the customer may request automatic blocking from the telephone company’s service representatives.

In the US, under current rules and practices, mobile phone and Voice over IP listings are not included in telephone directories. Efforts to create cellular directories have met stiff opposition from several fronts, including a significant percentage of subscribers who seek to avoid telemarketers.

In 1991, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (in Feist v. Rural) that telephone companies do not have a copyright on telephone listings, because copyright protects creativity and not the mere labor of collecting existing information. Within the geographical reach of the Court, the Feist ruling has resulted in the availability of many innovative telephone directory services on CD-ROM and the World Wide Web.

Publication

Telephone directories can be published in hard copy or in electronic form. In the latter case, the directory can be provided as an online service through proprietary terminals or over the Internet, or on physical media such as CD-ROM.

In France, the Minitel videotex system originated as an attempt by France Télécom to rid itself of its paper publishing costs by forcing all telephone users to use Minitel terminals instead.

In Switzerland, most pay phones are now accompanied with electronic telephone directory terminals instead of paper directories, and phone users are charged for each search.

Types

A telephone directory may also be called a phone book or may be known by the color of the paper it is printed on.

* White pages generally indicates personal or alphabetic listings.
* Yellow pages, golden pages or A2Z, generally indicates a business directory classified by business type or services provided, almost always with paid advertising.
* Grey pages, sometimes called a “reverse telephone directory”.
* Other colors may have other meanings, depending on a country’s customs. Information on government agencies is often printed on blue or green pages.

Ancillary content

A telephone directory may also provide instructions about how to use the telephone service in the local area, may give important numbers for emergency services, utilities, hospitals, doctors and organizations who can provide support in times of personal crisis. It may also have civil defense or emergency management information. There may be transit maps, postal code guides, or stadium seating charts, as well as advertising.

Intelius had 90 million numbers in its database, according to its Web site, and was selling them for $15 each to anyone who had a name and wanted a number.

The company said in a statement released Friday that it has discontinued the directory service due to “consumer feedback.” Several TV stations and MSNBC.com had publicized the directory last week.

Verizon Wireless called on Intelius last Tuesday to stop selling numbers.

“This is a violation of Americans’ privacy. People expect their cell phone numbers to remain private,” Steve Zipperstein, Verizon Wireless’ general counsel, said in the statement.

Intelius still operates a reverse cell-phone lookup, which reveals the name of the subscriber for a given number. Several other Web sites offer the same service. Intelius also conducts background checks, people searches and sells records on property and neighborhoods.

The cellular industry organization CTIA — The Wireless Association attempted to create a cell-phone directory, but abandoned the effort a few year ago after opposition from consumers and legislators.

Liz Murray, communications manager at Intelius, said the Bellevue, Wash., company had developed the directory it is now shuttering because people are increasingly abandoning land lines in favor of cell phones.

“We realize that in this instance, we may have been ahead of our time,” Murray said.

The company never planned to sell numbers in bulk to businesses, she said.

Federal law already prohibits telemarketers from calling cell phones.

Murray would not say how the company obtained the numbers, or how large a share of Intelius revenue the sales represented, citing the “quiet period” associated with the company’s planned initial public offering of stock. The IPO could be worth up to $143.8 million, according to documents filed in January.

The IPO filing notes that the company is the subject of a Federal Trade Commission investigation regarding Fair Credit Reporting Act compliance.

The chief executive of Intelius, Naveen K. Jain, founded InfoSpace Inc., an Internet search and directory company that soared during the dot-com frenzy, then crashed.

Critics fear that the directory being developed by the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association will undermine privacy and flood cell phones with unwanted calls and messages.

The directory is expected to include about 75 percent of the nation’s 163 million mobile numbers. From those numbers, it would be easy to deduce the addresses of phones that receive e-mail because, in most cases, the number is the user name part of the e-mail address.

The association is pitching the directory as a boon for real estate agents and other on-the-go professionals who want people to be able to look up mobile numbers.

“The world of telecommunications continues to change, and every day wireless becomes a more significant part of our world,” said Steve Largent, the association’s president. “This system will provide consumers an opportunity to opt in, if they choose.”

Privacy advocates, some members of Congress and even a major carrier — Verizon Wireless — counter that the promise of consumer choice is disingenuous because many cell phone service contracts contain clauses that give permission to publish numbers.

They predict that there will be the kind of spam deluge that already plagues mobile users in Europe and Asia, where full-featured phones are more common than in the United States. Beyond that, it’s unclear whether people would be on the hook to pay for unwanted calls and e-mails.

“I don’t want the world to know my cell-phone number,” said Rep. Joseph R. Pitts, R-Pa., who has introduced a bill to prevent wireless phone companies from automatically including customers in the directory without getting their permission and from charging customers if they want unlisted numbers.

It’s also a big money issue for an industry suffering through brutal price wars. A wireless directory could generate as much as $3 billion a year in fees and additional minutes by 2009, according to a study conducted by consulting firm Zelos Group Inc.

Some people may welcome the directory as a quick way to get numbers for friends.

“The younger audience of students, who have essentially grown up with mobile phones and don’t differentiate between them (and) wired phones, may be more receptive because it is their primary means of communications,” Forrester Research Inc. analyst Charles Golvin said.

In the 30 years since cell phones burst onto the market, wireless numbers have remained mostly private because recipients of calls have to pay for air time and, thus, have been reluctant to distribute numbers widely.

What’s more, 30 percent of wireless customers change carriers each year, complicating the task of compiling an accurate directory. Until recently, when customers switched carriers, their numbers changed as well, so marketers were reluctant to invest much energy in compiling databases of such nomadic users.

That changed last year when the Federal Communications Commission allowed wireless subscribers to keep their numbers when they switched. The rules also permit subscribers of wired phones to transfer their home or office numbers to cellular phones.

Jim Conway, vice president of government affairs at the Direct Marketing Association, said some members are already inadvertently calling consumers who have transferred their home numbers to their cell phones.

He said members of the association, the largest trade group for telemarketers, are sensitive to privacy concerns.

“The last thing you want as a marketer is to call your customer on his cell phone, because it’s considered so private and personal,” Conway said.

Cell phone numbers can be added to the Federal Trade Commission’s do-not- call list. Many telemarketing operations, though, don’t belong to the Direct Marketing Association, which honors the list.

Verizon Wireless vowed not to include its 39 million subscribers in the directory and chided the effort as misguided.

“We feel that customers like their wireless phone numbers private,” Verizon spokeswoman Brenda Raney said.

Perform a search on a search engine like Google or Dogpile. Type reverse phone look-up in the search bar and press enter.

Sift through the information. Inevitably, you will get pages of information relating to reverse phone look-ups. This is the hardest part. Open pages you think may be useful to you and examine them. Pay close attention, because most of the reverse look up websites are free; while others appear to be free until you try to get detail information and find out there’s a charge.

Try some pages. Choose a few pages that look promising and try them. Try your landline search first. If you get no results from a free landline search, move on to a paid cell phone look-up. This likely costs money. You need to determine whether knowing the caller’s number is worth paying the fee.

Check out websites like White Pages.com and AnyWho.com, which are always free and reliable. See links in Resources.

Verify your information. Call the number and verify that the information is correct. If the information is not correct, most sites have an area where you can dispute information.

Lately, I’ve become a pro at using reverse phone directories to find contact and background information on various people who have crossed my path. For different reasons: verifying trustworthiness of business connections, finding personal acquaintances with whom I’ve lost touch, and screening potential dates. Better safe than sorry. For the most part, it’s been rewarding to find that people in my circle are good and honest. This allowed me to solidify relationships based on evidence. In the past, I found out that my trust in some people had been misplaced. This is a great precaution and confirmation.

It also solves mysteries like this one. Who is this man and what does he want? Why won’t he speak, and where did he get my number? There it is, information about the owner of this number: I now know his name, age (close to my own), address (ditto), and occupation (similarly creative). No criminal records or civil judgments, so based on preliminary scrutiny, he seems interesting and harmless.

I decided to call him then. Surprised and embarrassed the heck out of him, but got him to talk. A mutual long-ago acquaintance gave him my number when he recently moved to Seattle. He really was painfully shy at first, but became absolutely charming as we talked more and got to know each other better. I must remember to call that acquaintance and thank him for the referral. Wait, what’s his number again? Oh, no biggie: I can just look up his phone number and other contact information in the reverse phone directory.

You might be surprised at just how effective the free search engines can be sometimes. This is specially true if the telephone number you are looking up belongs to a business. Businesses are only too pleased if you find them by their phone number because they want to be found. That’s why they advertise. They often make a point of displaying thier phone number on their web sites around the Internet. If the number can be found on a web site then there is a good chance that one or more of the search engines have indexed it.

It isn’t just businesses that put their phone numbers on the Internet. It’s true that individuals are being more careful about giving out their phone number but lots of people still post them in forums and other public places on the net. Also the person you are searching for could have a business and might have given you their business number so it’s more than worth a try and it only takes a few minutes.

It is true however that individuals are much more reluctant to make their phone numbers public and people are now becoming more and more aware of the hard fact that anything posted on the Internet isn’t going to remain private for very long. More and more people are becoming increasingly careful and very protective of their phone numbers as a result.

Do you look at the numbers on your phone bill and wonder who on earth they could be? Is your spouse is cheating on you and making calls behind your back? Do you want an easy way to do a background check on someone you are about to date or hire to do work on your house? If you get his phone number then you most likely can. You can even do it with a cell phone number in some cases.

Have you ever been alarmed by the list of phone numbers in your child’s cell phone address book? You hope that they all belong to friends and family but are they all as innocent as you think they are? Put your mind at rest by doing a little research on the phone numbers.

Telephone numbers can be used to find people that you’ve lost touch with over the years. Your old college friends, your ex neighbors and even your family. Even an obsolete number that isn’t in use any more can still be used to give you a vital clue to someone’s location. A reverse telephone directory can be fun and can be used for serious research, not just for fighting stalkers and all those nuisance callers.