It may have happened while you were standing in the grocery store checkout line or while you were walking into the library. It has even been known to happen when you are walking down the street minding your business. Someone taps you on the shoulder. After a few minutes of conversation, you realize it is an old friend that you haven’t seen in a long time. You both promise to contact each other so you can catch up later but it isn’t until your friend is long out of sight before you realize you forgot to get their cell phone number.

If this has ever happened to you, then you know how frustrating it is to want to call someone and not have their cell phone number. What is more frustrating is, due to laws that limit the publishing of cell phone numbers, you can’t look them up in the telephone book. Thankfully, the internet is available to help. Here are a few ways you can find a cell phone number online.

Search Engines

It seems, these days, everyone has a website. With domain names and web hosting being as cheap as they are, it is easier, now more than ever, to start a blog on any subject imaginable. Therefore sometimes you can get lucky and find a cell phone number for a person simply by using a search engine.

Go to Google or Yahoo and type in their name. You may have to enclose their name in quotation marks in order to trim down the results you get. You can also narrow down the results further by including the city and state where they live. Then start going through the search listings and see if you can find a cell phone number. Although, using a search engine is not as effective or efficient as other methods but, sometimes you get lucky.

Social Media Sites

Another good way to find a cell phone number is to search through social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook. If you know what school they attended, then you can try searching school networking sites such as Classmates.com. People tend to be more casual and open on these sites and will sometimes leave contact information on their profiles so their internet friends can call them.

Cell Phone Number Lookup Sites

The easiest way to find a cell phone number for someone is to use a phone number lookup service. These online databases gather together information they find through public sources into one easy to search website. You can search by name and location as well as old phone numbers and even social security numbers. This is a great way to find old school friends, long lost relatives and even new people you meet. Some of these databases are free to use and some require a small membership fee.

Next time you are speaking to a friend and you forget to ask for their cell phone number, try searching for them using the internet. You may be surprised at what you can find online.