It used to be that everyone had a standard phone in their home and locating a number or address simply required opening the white pages and finding their name. It is often more complicated now that cell phones are widely used and many people do not even have home phones, and if they do their number may be unlisted.

Even with the invention of caller ID on most home phones, many numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to prevent their name from appearing. Reverse phone lookup services have responded to these changing times to provide a very timely service to modern phone users.

There are two typical functions for lookup services.

Locating Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number comes up on your ID, or you need to figure out cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup directories can help you find out the name registered to the number in question. Just by typing in the phone number you will have access to the person who is initiating those phone calls in question.

People looking for this service include those who need to identify a number constantly texting their spouse or teenager's cell phone, since there is no accessible directory for cell phone numbers. Others may use lookup directories when they need to know a name connected to a landline that may be unpublished. Whenever you have a number but aren't sure who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup website can help.

Finding Addresses

The other typical function is to identify an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you find the information linked with a certain number most directories will give additional information as well, which may include the address of the home phone or an address listed to a cell phone number.

This may not be a common need for some people, but it does have its benefits in quite a few situations. For example, take a parent desperate to track down a teenager who has run away or is still out well past curfew. If they can get access to numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly tell them addresses as well as names of places the child may be at that time.

More common circumstances 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 easily deliver the invite without calling and tracking down other busy family.

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

There is a small charge for any relevant reverse phone lookup service, but if your business or personal situation demands certain data it is money well spent in the end. The charge is necessary because this variety of information is not easy or free to research, compile, and save, so issuing it immediately to people such as you must also come with a charge to make up for such serviceable expenditures.

There more than likely will never be a phone book for cellular numbers, and even if they were compiled it is probable the majority of the numbers would be unlisted just like many landline numbers today. The only way to get 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 on a regular basis.