Reverse phone lookup is a way of retrieving a name and other personal information associated with a phone number. Some online directories maintain extensive databases useful for discovering the identities and addresses of unknown callers and other available information. Understanding how to use these services can help determine whether to ignore a call from an unknown, dial back, block it, or report it to your local law enforcement.
What are Utah Phone Numbers?
Local Utah phone numbers are sequences of digits that can be used to reach particular landlines and wireless phone lines. The majority of phone numbers used by Utah residents are connected to wireless mobile and virtual VoIP phone systems.
The Utah telephony services report published by the National Center for Health Statistics in 2018 indicates that 69.0% of Utah homes use wireless phones exclusively, while less than 3.0% are still solely dependent on landlines. These figures strongly indicate that landlines are increasingly getting obsolete, with many homes and businesses embracing newer phone technologies. The major phone carriers in Utah include AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint. Listed by network coverage, these carriers rank as follows:
- AT&T with 84%
- Verizon with 79%
- T-Mobile with 66%
- Sprint with 19%
Many Utah homes and businesses are increasingly embracing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony services. These have further made copper wire landlines less popular in the state.
Can I Search a Phone Number and Find Out Who it Is?
Yes, you can look up a landline or mobile phone number and find out who it is registered to in a few simple steps. To identify an unknown caller, find a reverse phone search engine and submit their phone number. The reverse phone search service then brings up every available information about the individual assigned the number, including their name and address.
While results are usually available for most landline and cellphone numbers, VoIP numbers are harder to look up in this way. This is because scammers and unscrupulous sales marketers usually spoof and falsify these virtual numbers making it almost difficult to find accurate information about VoIP subscribers.
What are Phone Lookup Services?
Phone lookup services provide web-based search engines that can retrieve customer details associated with phone numbers. Phone users that enabled caller ID features on their phones can view names behind incoming calls. However, with recent advances in technology, sometimes the name revealed by caller ID is doctored and not the real name associated with a phone number.
Scammers and malicious users can manipulate their caller IDs to display familiar numbers at the receivers’ end. Learning how to use phone lookup services to identify VoIP numbers, spoofed numbers, and unregistered numbers is helpful to avoid falling victim to phone scams.
What Information Can You Get from a Utah Phone Number Lookup Search?
Those using reverse phone lookups to identify unknown callers by their phone numbers can expect the following details:
- Full names
- Addresses
- Ages
- Genders
Free phone number lookup services can identify individuals linked to submitted phone numbers by providing these pieces of information. For more detailed results, users have to sign up to use paid lookup searches. These are premium-tier offerings that can provide more recent details about searched individuals. For example, paid searches can find targets’ new home and office addresses as well as new names for those that changed their names since registering their phone numbers.
Paid reverse phone lookup searches can also reveal photos of searched individuals as well as records available in the public domain. These additional details are useful for verifying the identities and claims of strange callers. You can also use them when investigating suspected phone scammers and stalkers. Residents of Utah can provide law enforcement with such details while reporting these individuals.
What is a VoIP Number?
A Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) number is a phone number linked to a virtual phone system and not to a specific phone line. VoIP phone systems rely on data connectivity for voice and video calls as well as messaging applications. In the United States, VoIP services have gained tremendous popularity because they are more affordable, more efficient, and more flexible than landline and mobile phone solutions.
VoIP service providers in Utah, such as RingCentral, set up VoIP phone systems and assign virtual numbers that require broadband connections for optimum call and video chat quality. Once subscribed, each virtual number can be used on multiple web-enabled devices and anywhere in the world. Because of these convenient features, scammers with broadband internet connections anywhere in the world can obtain VoIP phone numbers bearing Utah area codes. This makes it extremely difficult to distinguish between actual local callers from malicious actors taking advantage of the flexibility of VoIP.
Furthermore, unlike fixed and mobile phone numbers, VoIP numbers cannot be tracked to a particular device with an IMEI number or IP address. VoIP numbers are also easy to sign up for and discard. These unique features make VoIP appealing to scammers and contribute to the rapid adoption of this telephony technology amongst malicious actors.
The same feature makes it significantly harder to trace VoIP numbers with reverse phone lookup services. To avoid falling victim to scammers calling with VoIP numbers, you should be wary of answering unknown numbers even when they look familiar. At best, looking up these numbers using reverse phone lookup services can help determine whether they are registered users or not.
The FTC, the Consumer Protection Division of the Utah Department of Commerce, and the Utah Attorney General’s Office provide various tools and resources on how to identify fraudulent phone calls and spam emails. Some of the best measures are discussed below.
What is a Utah Phone Number Area Code?
Telephone numbers in the United States used to be administered by local numbering systems until the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) was introduced by AT&T and Bell in 1947. The initiative behind this plan was to create a streamlined and uniform method of making calls and to accommodate newly assigned phone numbers. This led to the creation of area codes denoted by the first three digits of 10-digit phone numbers.
A phone number area code represents the particular region where a phone number was assigned. However, with recent advances in technology, area codes may not be accurate in determining the origin of a phone call.
What is a Utah Phone Number Prefix Code?
Prefix codes or exchange codes are the second set of three numbers listed after area codes in phone numbers. In the United States, phone numbers contain 10 numbers separated into three sets by hyphens. The first three numbers are the area codes, the second three numbers constitute the prefix codes, and the last numbers are the phone line number. Using (801) 123-4567 as an example:
- The area code is 801
- The prefix code is 123
- The line number is 4567
Utah phone numbers that include the country code dialing code are organized in the following manner: country code + area code + prefix code + four-digit line number. For instance, a number with +1 (435) 001-1234 represents:
- +1 is the United States country code
- 435 represents the area code
- 001 is the prefix code
- 1234 is the line number specific to each phone line
Is There a Way to Lookup a Phone Number for Free in Utah?
Yes, there are several ways to look up a phone number for free in Utah. The first is to take advantage of the public records available through government agencies. These records are open and accessible to anyone, so you can easily search for a specific phone number or perform an extensive background check.
Another way to lookup a phone number for free in Utah is by using various online resources and free reverse lookup tools. These websites offer a wide range of information about individuals, including their names, addresses, email addresses, landline phone numbers, and even cell numbers. These websites also include other essential details such as criminal records and court documents.
Additionally, some reputable third-party websites also offer free phone number lookup services. These databases, however, are often less thorough than the ones provided by government agencies and online resources, as they are not always updated regularly. Therefore, it's important to verify the accuracy of these databases before using them to search for a specific phone number in Utah.
Finally, you can also use social media networks such as Facebook or LinkedIn to lookup a phone number for free in Utah. While this may not be as reliable or accurate as other methods, it is still worth considering when attempting to locate an individual's contact information in the state.
Is Reverse Phone Lookup Legal in Utah?
Yes. Utah residents can use phone number lookup searches to find more information about unknown callers. Utah does not have state laws determining the legality of phone lookup services. However, anyone can provide and use these tools to identify strange callers by their phone numbers as long as they do without flouting the state’s civil and criminal laws.
This means that it is illegal to use reverse phone lookup in Utah with the intention of defrauding and stealing confidential information from residents of the state. Similarly, Utah does not allow using lookup tools to harass, stalk, or harm anyone.
Reverse phone number lookup services must also obey privacy laws in Utah. It is illegal to use these services to spy on others or reveal confidential information without their consent. Legitimate phone number lookup search providers only extract details from public government records as well as personal information published in the public domain.
