Not long ago, everyone had a landline phone in their home and finding a phone number or address simply required opening the yellow pages and searching for their name. It is often 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now that cell phones are in common use and many people do not even have landlines, and if they do their number may be unpublished.

Even with the widespread use of caller ID on most home phones, a lot of numbers may appear without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their details from coming up. Reverse phone lookup providers have responded to these changing times to offer a very valuable service to resourceful phone users.

There are two typical uses for these directories.

Locating Names

If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number shows on your ID, or you need to figure out cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can assist in finding the name listed to the phone number of concern. Just by typing in the phone number you will have access to the person who is initiating the calls of concern.

People in search of such services include those wanting to check up on a number constantly texting their spouse or teenager's cell phone, since there is no accessible directory for cell phone numbers. Others may use lookup directories when they want to identify a name connected to a landline that is unlisted. Whenever you have a phone number but aren't sure who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup directory can assist you.

Searching for Addresses

another common function is to identify an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you gain access to the information connected with a particular number most directories will deliver other sorts of data as well, which may include the address of an home phone or the address associated with a cell phone number.

This may not be a typical need for some people, but it does have its uses in some situations. Such as a parent in a rush to find a teenager who has run off or is still out long after curfew. If they can come up with numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly tell them addresses as well as 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 classmates. If you have their phone number you can find their address and get the invite in the mail without calling or tracking down other busy parents.

Lookup directories can also give you a connection to other kinds of information, such as income brackets or address histories, and one site even gives a map with an general pinpoint of the most current location.

There is a minor fee for any legitimate reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal situation demands accurate data it is money well spent in the end. The fee is unavoidable because this variety of information is not easy or free to research, collect, and save, so issuing it as needed to consumers such as you must also come with a fee to account for these working expenditures.

There likely will never be a phone book for cell phone numbers, and even if they were compiled most likely a lot of the numbers would be unlisted just like many home phone numbers today. The only way to obtain access to such phone numbers is to give a nominal fee either to do a one time phone number search or to join a lookup service if you will be using the service on a regular basis.