Not long ago, everyone had a standard phone in their home and searching for a phone number or address was a matter of opening the white pages and searching for the name. This has become more complex now that cell phones are widely used and many people do not even have landlines, and if they do their number may be unpublished.

Even with the development of caller ID on most landlines, 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 services have stepped up to these changing times to provide a very useful service to resourceful phone users.

There are two common uses for lookup directories.

Searching for Names

If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number is revealed on your ID, or you need to figure out cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can help you find out the name listed to the phone number in question. Just by typing in the number you will be able to identify the person who is behind the calls of concern.

People looking for this service include those who need to identify a number frequently texting their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no accessible directory for cell phone numbers. Other people may use this when they want to identify a name connected to a home phone that may be unlisted. Whenever you have a number but are uncertain who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup service can deliver the information.

Finding Addresses

another common purpose is to identify an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you find the contact information connected with a specific number most directories will deliver additional information as well, such as the address of the home phone or an address associated with a cell phone number.

This may not be a typical need for most people, but it does have its uses in quite a few situations. For example, take a parent desperate to locate a teenager who has run off or has not returned home long after curfew. If they can come up with numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly uncover addresses and names of locations the teenager may be at that time.

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

These services can also deliver a connection to other kinds of information, like income brackets or address histories, and one site even gives a map with an general pinpoint of where the home or business is located.

There will be a small charge for any legitimate reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal life requires certain data it is more than worth the payoff in the end. The fee is required because this kind of information is not simple or free to research, collect, and protect, so dispensing it immediately to others like you must also come with a fee to make up for these working costs.

There likely will never be a public directory for cellular numbers, and even if there were most likely a lot of the numbers would be unpublished as is the case with many landline numbers today. The best way to gain access to these phone numbers is to pay a minor fee either to complete a one time number lookup or to join a lookup directory if you will be using the directory long term.