It used to be that everyone had a standard phone in their home and finding a number or address simply required opening the white pages and finding the name. It is often 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 unlisted.

Even with the development of caller ID on most landlines, a lot of numbers may appear without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to block their name from showing up. Reverse phone lookup services have responded to these changing demands to provide a very useful service to modern phone users.

There are two typical uses for these services.

Finding Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number comes up on your caller ID, or you want to figure out cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup directories can assist in finding the name registered to the number of concern. Just by typing in the number you will be able to identify whoever is behind those phone calls in question.

People needing such services include those wanting to identify a number frequently calling their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no phone book for cell phone numbers. Others may use lookup directories when they want to identify a name registered to a home phone that may be unpublished. Whenever you have a phone number but aren't sure who it belongs to, a reverse phone lookup directory can assist you.

Finding Addresses

another typical function is to find an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you plug into the information associated with a particular phone number most services will give additional data as well, which may include the address of the landline or the address associated with a cell phone number.

This may not be an everyday need for some people, but it does have its benefits in quite a few situations. For instance, consider a parent desperate to track down a teenager who has run away or is still out long after curfew. If they can come up with numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly reveal addresses as well as names of locations the teenager may be located.

Other circumstances may be looking for addresses to send out party invitations to your child's friends. If you have a phone number you can get their address and mail out the invitation without calling and tracking down other busy people.

Lookup directories can also deliver access to other kinds of information, including income brackets or address histories, and one site even gives a map with an general pinpoint to the business or home's location.

There is a nominal price for any up to date reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal situation requires certain information it is more than worth the payoff in the end. The fee is required because this sort of information is not easy or free to research, collect, and protect, so issuing it immediately to consumers like you must also collect a fee to account for such serviceable costs.

There probably will never be a public directory for cell phone numbers, and even if there were most likely a lot of the numbers would be unpublished as is the case with many landline numbers right now. The only way to obtain access to these numbers is to put up a minor charge either to do a single number lookup or to join a lookup service if you will need to access the service on a regular basis.