Not long ago, everyone had a standard phone in their home and searching for a number or address simply required opening the white pages and finding their name. Things have grown more difficult now that cell phones are in common use and many people do not even have landlines, and if they do their number may be unpublished.

Even with the development of caller ID on most landlines, many numbers may come up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to block their name from showing up. Reverse phone lookup services have stepped up to these changing times to offer a very useful service to resourceful phone users.

There are two typical uses for these directories.

Finding Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number comes up on your caller ID, or you want to identify cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup directories can assist in finding the name listed to the number in question. Just by typing in the phone number you will be able to identify the person who is initiating those calls of concern.

People in search of lookup directories include those wanting to identify a number frequently calling 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 identify a name connected to a landline that may be unlisted. Anytime you have a number but are uncertain who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup service can deliver the information.

Finding Addresses

another common purpose is to locate an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you plug into the contact information connected with a certain phone number most directories will give other sorts of data as well, which may include the address of the landline or an address associated with a cell phone number.

This may not be an everyday need for most people, but it does have its uses in some situations. For example, take a parent desperate to track down a teenager who has run off or has not returned home long after curfew. If they can get access to numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly uncover addresses as well as names of places the teenager may be located.

Other situations may be searching for addresses to mail out party invitations to your child's peers. If you have their phone number you can get their address and mail out the invitation without calling and tracking down other busy parents.

These services can also deliver access to other sorts of data, such as income brackets and address histories, and one site even gives a map with an rough pinpoint to the business or home's location.

There will be a small charge for any legitimate reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal life demands particular information it is worth the money in the end. The charge is necessary because this kind of information is not easy or free to research, pull together, and store, so dispensing it immediately to consumers like you must also collect a charge to make up for these serviceable expenditures.

There probably will never be a public directory for cell phone numbers, and even if they were compiled it is probable a lot of the numbers would be unlisted just like many home phone numbers today. The best way to obtain access to such phone numbers is to give a minor fee either to do a single number search or to join a lookup directory if you will need to access the directory on a regular basis.