It used to be that everyone had a standard phone in their home and locating a number or address was a matter of opening the white pages and searching for the name. Things have grown 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now that cell phones are widely used and many people do not even have home phones, and if they do their number may be unpublished.

Even with the development of caller ID on most landlines, some 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 stepped up to these changing demands to provide a very timely service to modern phone users.

There are two common uses for these services.

Finding Names

If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number shows on your ID, or you want to figure out cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup directories can help you find out the name registered to the phone number of concern. Just by entering the phone number you will have access to the person who is behind the phone calls in question.

People needing this service include those wanting 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 Other people may use this when they want to identify a name registered to a home phone that may be unpublished. If you have a number but don't know who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup directory can assist you.

Finding Addresses

another common function is to find an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you find the information linked with a particular number most services will give additional data as well, such as the address of an landline or an address listed to a cell phone number.

This may not be an everyday need for some people, but it does have its benefits in some situations. For example, take a parent desperate to track down a teenager who has run away or has not returned home well past curfew. If they can get access to numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly tell them addresses and names of places the teenager may be located.

More common circumstances may be searching for addresses to send out party invitations to your child's classmates. If you have a phone number you can find their address and get the invite in the mail without calling and tracking down other busy parents.

These services can also give you access to other sorts of information, such as 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 relevant reverse phone lookup website, but if your business or personal situation demands accurate data it is worth the money in the long run. The fee is required because this variety of information is not easy or completely free to research, pull together, and save, so issuing it as needed to consumers like you must also collect a fee to cover these serviceable costs.

There more than likely will never be a public directory for cell phone numbers, and even if they were compiled it is probable many of the numbers would be unlisted just like many landline numbers right now. The only way to gain access to these phone numbers is to pay a small charge either to do a single number lookup or to join a lookup directory if you will be using the service long term.