Not long ago, everyone had a standard phone in their home and finding a number or address was a matter of opening the white pages and locating the name. It is often 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now that cell phones are in common use and many people do not even have home phones, and if they do their number may be unpublished.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 invention of caller ID on most landlines, some numbers may come 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 times to provide a very valuable service to resourceful phone users.

There are two common functions for these directories.

Finding Names

If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number is revealed on your ID, or you need to identify cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can assist in finding the name registered to the phone number in question. Just by typing in the phone number you will be able to identify whoever is initiating the calls of concern.

People looking for lookup directories include those who need to identify a number constantly calling their spouse or teenager's cell phone, since there is no phone book for cell phone numbers. Others may use this when they need to identify a name listed to a landline that is unlisted. Anytime you have a phone number but don't know who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup directory can assist you.

Searching for Addresses

The other common purpose is to find an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you find the information connected with a particular phone number most services will give additional information as well, such as the address of an home phone or the address associated with a cell phone number.

This may not be an everyday need for most people, but it does have its benefits in quite a few situations. For example, take a parent in a rush to locate a teenager who has run away or has not returned home long after curfew. If they can find phone numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly tell them addresses and names of locations the child may be at that time.

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

Lookup websites can also deliver access to other various types of data, such as income brackets and address histories, and one site even gives a map with an estimated pinpoint of where the home or business is located.

There will be a nominal price for any up to date reverse phone lookup website, but if your business or personal situation requires accurate data it is money well spent in the long run. The fee is unavoidable because this sort of information is not simple or completely free to research, compile, and save, so distributing it immediately to others like you must also come with a fee to account for such working expenditures.

There more than likely will never be a phone book for cell phone numbers, and even if there were most likely a lot of the numbers would be unlisted as is the case with many home phone numbers today. The only way to get access to such numbers is to give a minor charge either to do a one time number search or to join a lookup directory if you will need to access the service long term.