is there a way to look up for FREE who is registered to a particular
cell phone number

Well, you can always Google the number in several formats and see what
comes up. If the person has typed the phone number into a page crawled
by Google it will come up.

Like this:

"(206) 555-1212"
"206-555-1212"
"206 5551212"
"555-1212" -look at each result for a matching city.

Parcor asks about cell phone numbers, which seem to appear much less
frequently on sites, but, of course, the principle still applies.

I agree, but it does work right now for cell phones. I should know,
when I put in my cell phone number, an online form I filled out
several months ago pops right up --lists a username of mine and my
cell number. Can't edit it out, learned that lesson the hard way.
 
Also, consider this:

Cell Phone Directory Raises Concerns
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,119783,00.html
..."The cell phone industry hopes to have a directory for wireless
phone numbers by the end of this year, but privacy advocates,
lawmakers and some industry officials worry that consumers could be in
danger of losing the anonymity cell phones provide..."


--As soon as this directory is out, even though they say it will only
be through 411 access (no print), the reverse directory will follow.

whitepages.com and look for on the page that says who the number is
registered to and call the carrier and ask for the owners name of this
accout. NOTE: the number may of been transfered, dont know if they
will allow to tell you to which provider

Cynthia,

Just for your edification, the "cell phone industry" has no interest
and no intention of producing a cell phone directory no matter how
many press releases you see from sham organizations like the CTIA.

Contrary to what they would like you to believe, they do not represent
the cellular carriers. Membership in CTIA is much like belonging to
any other business organization - you join to say you are
participating - then ignore the organization.

Stop and think about the position cell carriers are in.

Close to zero of their customers would want to be in any such
directory. There is no requirement to provide one. Cell customers
would have to opt-in before their number would be published. Who is
going to all of the expense of producing, marketing and delivering a
directory in which virtually no one is listed?

If you are government or law enforcement, you can query this via the
LexisNexis. But in almost all cases, you should have a very good
reason for querying, and a warrant.