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 locating the name. This has become more complicated 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 development of caller ID on most home phones, a lot of numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their name from coming up. Reverse phone lookup directories have stepped up to these changing demands to provide a very valuable service to resourceful phone users.

There are two common uses for these services.

Locating Names

If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number is revealed on your caller ID, or you want to identify cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup directories can assist in finding the name listed to the number in question. Just by typing in the phone number you will have access to whoever is initiating those bothersome phone calls.

People needing this service include those who need to identify a number often texting their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no phone book for cell phone numbers. Others may use this when they want to know a name registered to a home phone that is unpublished. If you have a number but don't know who it belongs to, a reverse phone lookup website can help.

Finding Addresses

The other typical function is to locate an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you find the contact information linked with a particular number most directories will deliver other sorts of information as well, such as the address of an home phone or an address listed to a cell phone number.

This may not be a typical need for some people, but it does have its benefits in some situations. For instance, consider a parent needing to locate a teenager who has run away or is still out long after curfew. If they can get access to numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly uncover addresses and names of locations the child may be located.

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

Lookup websites can also deliver a connection to other kinds of information, 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 up to date reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal situation requires accurate data it is more than worth the payoff in the long run. The fee is necessary because this sort of information is not simple or free to research, pull together, and protect, so dispensing it as needed to consumers such as you must also collect a fee to make up for these operational expenditures.

There probably will never be a phone book 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 best way to get access to such numbers is to put up a small charge either to complete a one time number lookup or to join a lookup service if you will be using the service on a regular basis.