Is there any such thing as a reverse phone book?
I mean one where I could look up a number and it will give me the name/address of who owns it?It’s becoming annoying having people call you and not leaving messages and wondering who it is.The only other way is to 1471 and find out who it is.But that gets annoying too-asking ‘Who are you?You called me.’ and then explaining who I am
As someone who works on the phone all day, I encourage you as strongly as I politely can to not do this. If the phone call is that important, the person will call back. If not, it was probably a wrong number.
By 1471, I presume you mean the telephone company’s service to find out which number called last. Up here it’s *69 that gives you the number. The problem with this service is that if a business like mine is calling (answering service trying to reach a client to give them an important message) the call out is made on an unassigned number. So the call back that you make will come in on an unassigned line. This can lead to some pretty critical confusion unless one party or the other realizes who they’re speaking to in time.
In regards to the question, the Mid Island Phone Directory has a reverse directory section in it. It lists each exchange in numerical order and then just goes from 0000 to 9999 listing which # belongs to whom.
Here in the states we call them ‘criss-cross’ directories, and they’re usually found in larger libraries.
There all over the net too. Just google ‘reverse phone directory (your country)’ and some will pop up.
As you like it:
Even easier, just enter the phone number into Google, and if it is a listed number, it will display the name and address of the owner. Use this format: ###-###-#### , including the area code and the dashes.
ccwaterback, Fear Itself, I’m pretty sure (based more on the “1471” than on the username) that Iceland Blue is not part of any North American phone system. As such, whitepages and a phone number in ###-###-#### sequence may be of little help. (Although the Google suggestion might still work pretty well if the format is changed to the Icelandic version.)
If **Iceland Blue ** is from Iceland, s/he might want to check out the Simi web site. On this page I found some pages that appeared to be search features, especially the Finna laust númer link.
That would be helpful to know.
I must change my location indicator 
I’m in England. My knowledge is Icelandic is about enough to say hi and introduce myself and that’s on a really good day
And if you’re library has a reverse phone directory, you’re going to have to get off your duff to use it because few, if any, libraries will do lookups on the phone for anyone.
That’s because reverse phone directories are most commonly used by skip tracers and bill collectors and want to get the names of neighbors of people who lived next door to deadbeats of some kind.
Few libraries buy them anymore because the directories are very, very, very expensive and they usually have to be leased, not owned.
And they are only as good as the printed phone directory. It’s not as if you can use one to find out who has an unlisted number.
As I recall, the printed reverse phone directories had some kind of colorful name. Anybody remember what it was?
The two principal manufacturers are the Haines Criss-Cross Directories or the Polk City Directories.
I had a similar problem about 3 weeks ago with a message left on my answer phone on 3 occasions . Calling 1471 gave a number which when I rang it was always engaged. Usually when someone is cold calling you their number is not given, which led me to think that someone was trying hard to contact me to say my great aunt had died and left me her £2.00,000 fortune.
I tried to find reverse directories and googling the number without success. My son, who is the fount of all knowledge on the internet told me that reverse directories in the UK weren’t allowed because of the possibility of privacy abuse.
Anyway, they eventually rang when I was in to take the call, and it was a cold caller and she wanted to sell me a holiday. 
(confession: I don’t have a great aunt, I just thought it added something to the story)