Not long ago, everyone had a landline phone in their home and finding a phone number or address was a matter of opening the yellow pages and searching for the name. Things have grown more complicated now that cell phones are in common use and many people do not even have landlines, and if they do their number may be unlisted.

Even with the development of caller ID on most home phones, many numbers may come up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their name from showing up. Reverse phone lookup providers have responded to these changing times to provide a very useful service to modern phone users.

There are two typical uses for lookup directories.

Locating Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number comes up on your caller ID, or you need to figure out cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can assist in finding the name listed to the number in question. Just by entering the phone number you will have access to the person who is initiating the phone calls in question.

People looking for this service include those who need to check up on a number frequently phoning their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no phone book for cell phone numbers. Other people may use lookup directories when they want to find a name registered to a home phone that may be unpublished. Anytime you have a phone number but aren't sure who it belongs to, a reverse phone lookup directory can assist you.

Locating Addresses

another typical purpose is to find an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you gain access to the contact information connected with a certain phone number most directories will deliver other sorts of information as well, which may include the address of an home phone or an 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 needing to locate a teenager who has run off or has not returned home long after 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 and names of places the child may be located.

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

Lookup websites can also deliver access to other kinds of data, including income brackets and address histories, and one site even gives a map with an estimated pinpoint of the most current location.

There is a nominal price for any relevant reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal situation requires certain information it is money well spent in the end. The charge is necessary because this variety of information is not simple or completely free to research, compile, and protect, so distributing it on demand to others like you must also collect a charge to cover such operational expenditures.

There probably will never be a public directory for cell phone numbers, and even if they were compiled most likely many of the numbers would be unlisted just like many home phone numbers today. The only way to obtain access to these numbers is to give a nominal fee either to do a single phone number lookup or to join a lookup service if you will need to access the directory on a regular basis.