It used to be that everyone had a standard phone in their home and searching for a phone number or address was a matter of opening the white pages and searching for the name. It is often 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 unlisted.
Even with the widespread use of caller ID on most landlines, many numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to block their name from showing up. Reverse phone lookup services have responded to these changing times to provide a very valuable service to modern phone users.
There are two typical functions for these services.
Locating Names
If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number comes up on your caller ID, or you want to identify cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can assist in finding the name registered to the phone number of concern. Just by typing in the phone number you will be able to identify the person who is initiating the bothersome phone calls.
People looking for such services include those who need to check up on a number often texting their spouse or teenager's cell phone, since there is no accessible directory for cell phone numbers. Other people may use lookup directories when they need to identify a name listed to a home phone that is unlisted. If you have a phone number but are uncertain who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup website can help.
Searching for Addresses
The other typical use is to locate an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you find the information associated with a specific phone number most directories will give additional data as well, which includes the address of the landline or an address associated with a cell phone number.
This may not be a typical need for most people, but it does have its uses in some situations. Such as a parent needing to track down a teenager who has run away or is still out well past curfew. If they can come up with numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly reveal addresses as well as names of places the child may be located.
Other circumstances may be searching for addresses to mail out party invitations to your child's peers. If you have the phone number you can access their address and get the invite in the mail without calling and tracking down other busy parents.
These services can also give you access to other kinds of data, including income brackets and address histories, and one site even gives a map with an estimated pinpoint to the business or home's location.
There is a nominal price for any legitimate reverse phone lookup service, but if your business or personal life requires certain information 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, compile, and protect, so distributing it on demand to people like you must also come with a fee to account for such operational costs.
There more than likely will never be a public directory for cell phone numbers, and even if they were compiled most likely a lot of the numbers would be unlisted as is the case with many landline numbers right now. The best way to gain access to such phone numbers is to pay a nominal fee either to complete a one time phone number lookup or to join a lookup directory if you will be using the service on a regular basis.