A cell phone directory is often referred to as a telephone directory is a list comprising of all the basic information about subscribers living in a particular geographical area. This list was earlier available only in its physical form, but is now available online as well.

In this directory, the names of the subscribers are listed in alphabetical order along with their addresses. It comes with a separate list on emergency numbers such as that of the police, ambulance, doctors etc. In the country, ‘Voice over IP’ listings are not yet listed in the cell phone number directory. A person can request the exclusion of his number from the directory, with the payment of a fee. This number is then referred to as ‘unlisted’ or ‘private’.

Typed of cell phone directory
There may be other online cell phone directory types; however, these are the ones that are most accessible and helpful.

• White Pages
  This cell phone directory includes all the basic personal information of a subscriber including his or her cell phone number and postal or street address.

• Yellow and Golden Pages
  This is the most accessed cell phone directory and includes information related to the subscribers in different businesses. It is often referred to as the ‘A2Z directory’ or ‘business directory’ and is divided by different business forms, for e.g. information about doctors in Seattle will be under the head ‘Doctors’. This directory is often a result of the paid advertising done by people in the business sector.

• Grey Pages
  This is a special directory that allows a person to look up the information related to a person with the help of their cell phone number. Often referred to as a ‘reverse telephone directory’, this is published separately in a city directory named ‘Polk Directory’ and is made available to a person with the charge of a fee. However, it is not available in all jurisdictions.

• Blue or Green Pages
  This directory includes information related to government agencies and is by far the least accessed cell phone directory.

How to search for a directory online?
With the increasing attention towards wastage of paper, the usage of cell phone directories in the book form is reduced and the online directory has gained demand. In fact, some cities in the country like Seattle and San Francisco have banned paper phone directory altogether.

Information about people can be searched in two ways in the cell phone directory, namely:

• Basic search
  Under this search, a person’s details are looked into by entering their name in the search engine and then accessing their cell phone number or address. It is usually time-consuming as there are many subscribers of the same name in the directory.

• Reverse search
  Under this search, a person’s details like name and address are looked into by entering their phone number in the search engine. This is a fast procedure as there can be many people of the same name but there can only be one person with the same number.

What used to be stacked up in a bunch of papers has now been shifted to the cloud. Times have changed quickly and with a little information, you can make the most of it, even while looking up something as simple as a phone number.