It used to be that everyone had a standard phone in their home and searching for a number or address was a matter of opening the yellow pages and searching for their name. This has become more difficult now that cell phones are in common use and many people do not even have home phones, and if they do their number may be unlisted.

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 times to offer a very valuable service to modern phone users.

There are two typical uses for lookup directories.

Finding Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number shows on your ID, or you want to identify cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can help you find out the name registered to the phone number of concern. Just by typing in the phone number you will have access to the person who is responsible for the bothersome phone calls.

People looking for this service include those wanting to identify a number frequently texting their spouse or teenager's cell phone, since there is no phone book for cell phone numbers. Other people may use lookup directories when they need to identify a name registered to a landline that is unlisted. If you have a number but are uncertain who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup directory can help.

Locating 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 contact information linked with a certain number most directories will give additional information as well, which includes the address of an landline or the address connected to a cell phone number.

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

More common situations may be searching for addresses to mail out party invitations to your child's peers. If you have their phone number you can find their address and easily deliver the invite without calling or tracking down other busy people.

Lookup websites can also give you access to other sorts of data, like income brackets and address histories, and one site even gives a map with an rough pinpoint to the business or home's location.

There is a minor fee for any legitimate reverse phone lookup website, but if your business or personal life requires particular information it is money well spent in the long run. The fee is unavoidable because this sort of information is not simple or free to research, compile, and store, so distributing it on demand to others like you must also collect a charge to make up for these 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 unpublished just like many landline numbers today. The best way to get access to these numbers is to pay a small fee either to do a one time phone number lookup or to join a lookup service if you will need to access the service on a regular basis.