It used to be that everyone had a standard phone in their home and finding a phone number or address simply required opening the yellow pages and searching for the name. It is often more difficult now that cell phones are widely used and many people do not even have landlines, and if they do their number may be unlisted.
Even with the widespread use of caller ID on most landlines, a lot of numbers may come up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their details from showing up. Reverse phone lookup directories have responded to these changing demands to provide a very useful service to resourceful phone users.
There are two common functions for lookup services.
Searching for Names
If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number is revealed on your ID, or you need to identify 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 have access to whoever is initiating the bothersome phone calls.
People in search of lookup directories include those who need to identify a number frequently calling their spouse or teenager's cell phone, since there is no public directory for cell phone numbers. Other people may use lookup directories when they want to identify a name connected to a landline that may be unpublished. Whenever you have a number but don't know who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup directory can assist you.
Finding Addresses
The other common use is to find an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you find the information associated with a certain number most directories will give additional information as well, which includes the address of an home phone or the 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. Such as a parent in a rush to track down a teenager who has run away or is still out well past curfew. If they can come up with numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly uncover addresses as well as names of places the child may be located.
Other situations may be looking for addresses to mail out party invitations to your child's peers. If you have their phone number you can access their address and get the invite in the mail without calling and tracking down other busy people.
Lookup directories can also give you a connection to other sorts of data, including income brackets and previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an rough pinpoint of where the home or business is located.
There will be a small charge for any relevant reverse phone lookup service, but if your business or personal situation demands certain information it is more than worth the payoff in the end. The charge is unavoidable because this sort of information is not simple or free to research, compile, and save, so issuing it on demand to people like you must also collect a fee to cover such serviceable expenditures.
There probably will never be a phone book for cell phone numbers, and even if they were compiled it is probable many of the numbers would be unlisted as is the case with many landline numbers today. The only way to obtain access to these phone numbers is to pay a minor fee either to complete a single phone number lookup or to join a lookup service if you will need to access the service long term.