I found a handy little service called the Reverse Phone Detective, it's really handy for checking up on annoying or unknown calls.

Do you ever get those phone calls that come at the most inopportune time? It never fails; I'll sit down to dinner with the family, and the phone will start ringing. We never answer the phone during dinner, but after dinner I like to check up on any calls and see from whom it came. On most nights, there are zero messages, no matter how many phone calls.

I used to just leave it at that, walk away and see the same numbers day after day. Sometimes I'd try calling back and either get a lot of annoying computer noises, someone in another country or -- once in a long while -- someone I actually wanted to talk to.

One of my sons actually suggested I do a reverse phone lookup to see who had been calling me. I never thought of it before, it sounded like something I'd see on Law & Order. But sure enough, after a quick search for "reverse phone lookup" online, I found exactly what I was looking for.

The first thing I did was use the online reverse lookup to find the number of a really annoying telemarketer.

I called them back and was really nice about telling them to never call me again -- and they didn't!

I also used the service to call a few old friends back who had called but had not left messages. It was great to catch up with them, and now I wonder how many calls I missed that I actually wanted to receive.

The reverse phone search got a bookmark on my Internet browser since I use it so much.

Watch the Reverse Phone Detective video



There were a ton of other features beside the simple reverse phone number lookup -- some stuff that really sounded like detective tools:

Stop annoying telemarketers

Find prank callers

Research numbers that pop up on your phone bill

Find someone's address with their phone number

Research missed calls on your caller ID that you don't recognize

Use old numbers to find old friends

Reverse cell phone lookup and landline lookup

I could see it being used to check up on your kids' phone use, or even do some detective work on your spouse. Though I used it only to find a couple friends and give a piece of mind to telemarketers -- which was well enough for me!

The service uses information stored in public records so the records are up to date and it's all legal. The Reverse Phone Detective can also help with your own privacy. You can use the service to "opt-out" of the online phone directory.

Go to ReversePhoneDetective.com

Reverse Phone Detective Review Submitted By Sam