How to find phone numbers quickly online?

In 2003, the "192" directory enquiries service in the United Kingdom was deregulated, and a number of companies came on board to provide business and name searches, local and national phone numbers and further information previously provided by BT. This allowed consumers the choice in who to use to find business and home telephone numbers. However, there is some considerable cost in using these services, which can be obtained free of charge on-line.

Costs of Directory Enquiries

The cost to obtain this information varies greatly, with users paying up to £3.58 for a one minute call. The directories company Simunix estimated in March 2011 that UK businesses waste on average over £25,000 per annum calling these services that could be saved by using on-line searches. For the full article, see Simunix.com (wordpress/index.php/2011/03/). So where does one go to obtain the information provided at cost by these providers? A number of companies can instantly get this information to you free of charge.

BT's Free Alternative

BT Online
Thephonebook.bt.com (publisha.content/en/index.publisha) This is the BT website for it's UK directory service. It provides phone lists from both the BT business directory and personal numbers. Not only does this website offer a way to find a company by its individual name, it also offers a business directory for any chosen trade. For example, in the first image, we can see an excerpt from a search for driving instructors in Swansea. The services allows the user to get an address, telephone number and more information on the company.

Other Selected Free Providers

Yellow Pages
Yell.com This site is aimed at businesses, it allows one to search company information by asking for traders in a certain location. In the second image, we have looked for parcel delivery services in Inverness. Not only does Yell offer local telephone numbers and addresses for businesses, it also offers links to company websites and fast business information in the form of bullet points, allowing the user to make an informed choice prior to calling a customer. Other Free Telephone Number Providers The following companies also provide telephone numbers free of charge. By no means exhaustive, they all provide business and/or personal numbers. 192.com
Searchgb.co.uk
Dir.yahoo.com (Regional/Countries/United_Kingdom/Business_and_Economy/Directories/Companies/)
Whitepages.com - Enables USA people and businesses to be found.

Conclusion

As business and individuals look to tighten their belts, it is easy to see that at least paying for to search for both business and personal numbers should be a thing of the past!