It used to be that everyone had a standard phone in their home and searching for a phone number or address simply required opening the white pages and locating the name. Things have grown more difficult now that cell phones are widely used and many people do not even have landlines, and if they do their number may be unlisted.
Even with the invention of caller ID on most landlines, a lot of numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to prevent their details from appearing. Reverse phone lookup services have responded to these changing times to provide a very useful service to modern phone users.
There are two common functions for these directories.
Searching for Names
If you are getting calls from someone and only a number shows on your caller ID, or you want to figure out cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can assist in finding the name listed to the phone number of concern. Just by typing in the number you will have access to the person who is initiating those bothersome phone calls.
People needing such services include those wanting to check up on a number constantly texting their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no phone book 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. Whenever you have a number but don't know who it belongs to, a reverse phone lookup directory can help.
Finding Addresses
The other common function is to find an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you find the information connected with a particular number most directories will give additional information as well, which may include the address of the landline or an address connected to a cell phone number.
This may not be a common need for most people, but it does have its uses in some situations. For example, take a parent desperate to locate a teenager who has run off or has not returned home long after curfew. If they can come up with numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly uncover addresses and names of places the teenager may be located.
Other situations may be searching for addresses to send out party invitations to your child's classmates. If you have their phone number you can get their address and mail out the invitation without calling and tracking down other busy family.
Lookup directories can also give you a connection to other kinds of data, including income brackets and previous addresses, 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 relevant reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal life demands certain information it is more than worth the payoff in the end. The charge is necessary because this kind of information is not simple or free to research, compile, and store, so dispensing it as needed to consumers like you must also collect a fee to make up for such operational costs.
There likely will never be a phone book for cellular numbers, and even if there were most likely the majority of the numbers would be unlisted just like many home phone numbers right now. The best way to gain access to such phone numbers is to put up a nominal fee either to do a one time phone number lookup or to join a lookup service if you will need to access the service on a regular basis.