Not long ago, everyone had a landline phone in their home and finding a phone number or address simply required opening the white pages and searching for the name. Things have grown more complex now that cell phones are in common use and many people do not even have home phones, and if they do their number may be unpublished.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 home phones, a lot of numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to prevent their name from coming up. Reverse phone lookup providers have responded to these changing demands to offer a very valuable service to resourceful phone users.
There are two typical functions for these directories.
Finding 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 services can assist in finding the name registered to the phone number in question. Just by entering the number you will be able to identify the person who is responsible for those calls of concern.
People in search of such services include those wanting to check up on a number often calling their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no accessible directory for cell phone numbers. Other people may use lookup directories when they need to know a name listed to a landline that may be unpublished. If you have a number but don't know who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup directory can deliver the information.
Locating Addresses
The other typical purpose is to identify an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you gain access to the information linked with a specific number most directories will give additional information as well, such as the address of an home phone or an address associated with a cell phone number.
This may not be a common need for most people, but it does have its uses in quite a few situations. For instance, consider a parent needing to locate a teenager who has run off or is still out well past curfew. If they can get access to numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly tell them addresses as well as names of locations the child may be at that time.
Other circumstances may be looking for addresses to send out party invitations to your child's peers. If you have their phone number you can access their address and mail out the invitation without calling and tracking down other busy parents.
Lookup websites can also deliver a connection to other sorts of information, including income brackets or address histories, and one site even gives a map with an rough pinpoint of the most current location.
There will be a small charge for any relevant reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal situation requires accurate information it is worth the money in the long run. The fee is unavoidable because this kind of information is not easy or completely free to research, collect, and protect, so distributing it immediately to people such as you must also include a fee to account for these operational costs.
There likely will never be a public directory for cell phone numbers, and even if there were it is probable many of the numbers would be unlisted as is the case with many landline numbers right now. The only way to obtain access to such numbers is to put up a small fee either to do a single number lookup or to join a lookup directory if you will be using the service long term.