Not long ago, everyone had a standard phone in their home and searching for a phone number or address was a matter of opening the phone book and searching for the name. Things have grown more complicated now that cell phones are in common use and many people do not even have home phones, and if they do their number may be unpublished.
Even with the widespread use of caller ID on most landlines, a lot of numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their name from appearing. Reverse phone lookup services have stepped up to these changing demands to offer a very valuable service to resourceful phone users.
There are two common uses for lookup services.
Searching for Names
If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number is revealed on your caller ID, or you want to figure out cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup directories can help you find out the name registered to the number in question. Just by entering the phone number you will be able to identify the person who is behind the phone calls in question.
People looking for lookup directories include those wanting to check up on a number frequently texting their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no accessible directory for cell phone numbers. Others may use this when they want to know a name connected to a home phone that may be unlisted. If you have a phone number but don't know who it belongs to, a reverse phone lookup website can deliver the information.
Searching for Addresses
The other common purpose is to identify an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you plug into the contact information linked with a specific number most directories will deliver other sorts of information as well, which includes the address of the landline or an address listed to a cell phone number.
This may not be a typical need for most people, but it does have its benefits in some situations. For example, take a parent needing to track down a teenager who has run off or is still out long after curfew. If they can come up with numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly tell them addresses as well as names of locations the child may be at that time.
Other situations may be searching for addresses to mail out party invitations to your child's friends. If you have the phone number you can get their address and mail out the invitation without calling and tracking down other busy family.
These services can also give you access to other various types of data, including income brackets and previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an rough pinpoint of where the home or business is located.
There is a nominal price for any relevant reverse phone lookup website, but if your business or personal situation demands particular data it is worth the money in the long run. The fee is necessary because this variety of information is not easy or free to research, collect, and protect, so dispensing it as needed to consumers like you must also come with a charge to make up for such serviceable costs.
There probably will never be a public directory for cell phone numbers, and even if they were compiled most likely many of the numbers would be unlisted just like many home phone numbers right now. The only way to obtain access to such phone numbers is to give a small charge either to complete a one time phone number search or to join a lookup directory if you will be using the directory on a regular basis.