192.Com (192.com)

Member Name: Mapoco

Product:	192.com
Date:	28/05/02 (1852 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Its a good idea

Disadvantages: anyone can get your home address

If you have ever used the phone number 192 to find a friend or family, well why not try out their site. I came across this site after getting a demo on a CD. The demo would let me do some stuff but not as much as the site itself.

What is 192?
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192 are direct enquiries, so you can find information about someone anywhere in the UK.

The 192 web site is operated by an independent company and not run by BT themselves. In the paper lately, Bt are thinking about having this site and phone number stopped, but nothing is yet confirmed.

The catch with this site compared to the phone, is you have to register, but the good thing about it is, you get 20 credits, which are basically 20 free searches a month, compared to the local rate you have to pay on 192 phone number.
To register simply choose a username, fill in your details and make up a password. Although you are able to create more than one account, e.g. three accounts = sixty credits.

There are also options to purchase more credits, But apart from the free 20 credits account, the next cheapest is 100 credits which will cost you £14.95including VAT.

There are various types of membership available: -

One-time - £29.95
- 100 credits included
- £29.95 one-time fee
- Extra credits are not available
- Unrestricted Gold access to all other areas of the site

Standard - £14.95
- 100 credits monthly
- £14.95 charged monthly (6 months minimum)
- Extra credits at £0.07/credit
- Unrestricted Gold access to all other areas of the site

Professional

- 250 credits monthly + 1000 extra credits
- £34.95 charged monthly (6 months minimum)
- Extra credits at £0.05/credit
- Unrestricted Gold access to all other areas of the site

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Gold Access
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Gold access allows you to search any person in the whole of the UK, rather than having to look in only one area. Gold also allows you to search for any payphone or business.
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The only main disappointment about the free version is, to search for somebody; you have to know what His or her postcode is.

Unlike 192 phone directory enquiries Unlike BT this site will give out address details and even includes a map. I actually find it quite worrying how easy it is to find people with very little information. For those who have a common name like Jones or Roberts can get away with being not found as anyone looking will find a lot of you in your area. But for those with rare names like mine, any searcher will be able to pinpoint you to your exact address.

I decided to do a search in the whole of the UK of my name and was surprised how many Andrew R*****'s there was.

Any searches you do yourself can be saved into your address book. So if you have forgotten to write down the details of that long lost school friend you can just log back on without having to waste another credit to look for them again.

The whole database can also be purchased on CD-ROM ranging from £49.95 to £279.95. The only disadvantage about this is that the contents are not updated. There are many CD's; most are not needed as the same service is on the web site. But then there are other CD's which over European searches; this is something the web site cannot do.

However, as a member you can keep track of anyone who searches for you and an email can be sent to you informing you that you have been looked up and by whom.
Unfortunately, to have an email sent to you, will cost you one credit, which will be deducted from your monthly search allowance of 20 credits.

You may prefer to check on the site, to see who has looked for you. This won't cost
you a credit and gives the persons user id and postcode of whoever is looking for you. The information of who searched whom can be made available to the police should they require it.

The site also offers the member free Sms and email. Having never used this, I cannot review how good this part of the service is.

The site also shows you what the most popular searches are, which you can see below.

What type of company:
*********************
1. Jewellers
2. Accountants
3. Schools
4. Bar
5. Surgery
6. PC world
7. Printers
8. Police
9. Florist
10. Nursing home

what surname:
***************
1. Phillips
2. Bell
3. White
4. Harris
5. Davis
6. Hunter
7. Wood
8. Thomas
9. Edwards
10. Martin


Benefits of the free service:
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- Twenty searches free a month.
- Free email.
- Free Sms.
- Find out who's looking for you.

Disadvantages of the service:
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- Limited to the amount of searches.
- To look for someone you need his or her postcode.
- Cannot search in Europe.

Overall
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I hate the thought I can be looked up on the Internet, even if it does inform you that you have been looked up. I once saw on the site that you can have your information of the site and am thinking about signing to have my name taken off.
The service is excellent though, and it's a pity you only get 20 free searches. Even though you can open a 2nd or 3rd account, you may find this confusing as you have forgotten any account id's you have.

You get all the mod cons with this site, e.g. able to change passwords, email etc.

I quite liked this site, after finding about it from a demo CD and I am going to give it a ver generous rating of 9/10.

Summary: