It used to be that everyone had a standard phone in their home and locating a number or address simply required opening the yellow pages and finding the name. This has become more difficult now that cell phones are widely used and many people do not even have home phones, and if they do their number may be unpublished.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 home phones, some numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to prevent their details from showing up. Reverse phone lookup services have responded to these changing demands to offer a very valuable service to modern phone users.

There are two typical functions for lookup directories.

Locating Names

If you are receiving 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 registered to the phone number of concern. Just by entering the phone number you will be able to identify the person who is responsible for the calls of concern.

People needing lookup directories include those who need to check up on a number often calling 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 want to know a name connected to a landline that may be unlisted. Whenever you have a number but aren't sure who it belongs to, a reverse phone lookup directory can deliver the information.

Locating Addresses

another common use is to find an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you gain access to the information linked with a certain number most services will give other sorts of information as well, such as the address of an home phone or the address listed to a cell phone number.

This may not be a common need for most people, but it does have its benefits in quite a few situations. For instance, consider a parent desperate to locate a teenager who has run away or has not returned home long after curfew. If they can come up with numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly uncover addresses as well as names of places the child may be located.

Other situations may be looking for addresses to send out party invitations to your child's peers. If you have the phone number you can find their address and get the invite in the mail without calling and tracking down other busy parents.

Lookup directories can also deliver access to other various types of information, like income brackets or address histories, and one site even gives a map with an general pinpoint of where the home or business is located.

There will be a minor fee for any up to date reverse phone lookup website, but if your business or personal life requires particular data it is worth the money in the end. The fee is unavoidable because this sort of information is not easy or completely free to research, compile, and protect, so distributing it immediately to others like you must also come with a fee to make up for such working costs.

There likely will never be a phone book for cellular numbers, and even if they were compiled it is probable a lot of the numbers would be unlisted just like many landline numbers right now. The best way to get access to these numbers is to put up a nominal charge either to complete a single number search or to join a lookup service if you will need to access the directory on a regular basis.