Search Secrets: Strategies and Tactics


Successful searches almost always involve the "narrowing down" or "surrounding" of a result.  That is, you start with a general search and choose from the specific results.  It's like buying fruit.  You start with a bin of apples (a general search).  Then, you choose only the ones that look and feel right.

If you already have some information on your subject, resist the urge to enter it all into TeleQuery Search.  It's better to start with Last Name, City, and State.  If you don't have the City information, enter the Last Name, the first few letters of the first name, and the State.  This may yield a large list, but it will include your subject's listed information, and any non-published listings (if you're authorized to view this data).  Remember, you only pay "per page of up to 20 listings".  And, if nothing is found, you pay nothing at all.

Under our agreements with The Telephone Company, the maximum number of returned listings allowed per search is 500.

Common Search Mistakes
Address: 3900 3925 nw 29th
City: oklahoma city
State: OK
-- dash in the address-range is missing, and "29th" should be just "29"
Address: 5200-5400
City: dothan
State: AL
-- street missing
Last Name: McCain
First Name: Jo3hn
State: CA
-- unexpected characters in a field
Last Name: Peter Simonizer
State: AZ
-- only last name in Last Name field
Last Name: russell l jones
City: Chicago
Type: B
-- state missing
Phone: 9706189935
Last Name: walpole
City: rockham
-- when phone is entered, all other fields are ignored
Phone: 98472988765
-- phone number too long (or too short)

Batch Searches of queries may be submitted using a plain text file.
Each query must be on a line by itself.  The first line in the batch file must be a comma-delimited list of the field names for the records in the file.  Each line may be a comma-delimited set of up to 12 fields:
LASTNAME,FirstName,StreetOrdinal,StreetName,Unit,FullAddress,Apartment,City,STATE,zip,PhoneNumber
So, for example:

    LastName,City,State
    Blaksley,Kansas City,MO
    Barleycorn,Mathis,IA

    LastName,FirstName,City,State
    Peterson,John,Thompson,CA
    Bruger,Marjorie,New Brunswick,NJ

More Examples:
    LastName,FirstName
    Davis,J

    FullAddress,City,State
    3355 blackburn,Dallas,TX

    StreetOrdinal,StreetName,City,State
    3355-4455,blackburn,Dallas,TX

    PhoneNumber
    8644592054
    9086290737
    7575874351
    4014649080
    7709733329
    3058883667
    6305401430
    8439071451
    9724903347
    6312252330
    7077629091
    2067098706
    6194649231
    2052543855
    7168763897
    6613661501
    2072222268
    6513109654
Minimum Search Requirements:
Nationwide Name Search: Last Name or Business Name
Statewide Name Search: Last Name or Business Name+State
Local Name Search: Last Name or Business Name+City+State
Address Search: Address+City+State
Address-range Search: Address-range+City+State
Reverse Phone Search: Phone Number
Not all fields need to be specified, so it is permissible to list just phone numbers one per line, with no field delimiters.


Some Other Things You Ought To Know:
No listings found...

If you get a "No listings found..." message for a Neighborhood Search (or any other search, for that matter), it simply means there are no listed telephone numbers found for the search you tried, or the format of the search was incorrect.

For example, if you enter 123 Anypath St Apt 12 Anytown NY for the address, the Telephone Company ignores apartment numbers and street types: "St", "Ave", "Rd", "Ct", "Pkwy", etc.  Try just 123 Anypath Anytown NY or Anypath (by itself) Anytown NY.  The last suggestion returns many more listings.  But, you can " urround" the target easily, by calling upon the neighbors to help you locate him.


Another Twist:
As you know, many times the house number is falsified (or the result of a "typo").  So, try a house number range (100-1200), or no number at all -- just the street name.