It used to be that everyone had a standard phone in their home and finding a phone number or address simply required opening the yellow pages and locating their name. It is often 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 unlisted.

Even with the widespread use of caller ID on most home phones, some numbers may come up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to block their details from appearing. Reverse phone lookup services have stepped up to these changing times to provide a very timely service to modern phone users.

There are two common uses for these directories.

Finding Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number shows on your ID, or you want to figure out cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can assist in finding the name registered to the number in question. Just by typing in the number you will have access to the person who is initiating the phone calls in question.

People looking for this service include those who need to check up on a number often texting their spouse or teenager's cell phone, since there is no public directory for cell phone numbers. Others may use lookup directories when they need to know a name connected to a landline that is unlisted. Anytime you have a phone number but aren't sure who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup directory can deliver the information.

Locating Addresses

The other typical use is to locate an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you gain access to the information linked with a particular phone number most directories will give additional information as well, such as the address of an landline or the address connected to a cell phone number.

This may not be an everyday need for most people, but it does have its benefits in quite a few situations. Such as a parent desperate to locate a teenager who has run away or has not returned home well past curfew. If they can find phone numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly uncover addresses as well as names of locations the child may be at that time.

Other circumstances may be looking for addresses to mail out party invitations to your child's classmates. If you have their phone number you can access their address and get the invite in the mail without calling or tracking down other busy parents.

Lookup websites 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 estimated pinpoint of where the home or business is located.

There will be a nominal price for any legitimate reverse phone lookup service, but if your business or personal situation requires accurate information it is more than worth the payoff in the end. The charge is required because this variety of information is not easy or completely free to research, compile, and save, so distributing it immediately to others like you must also come with a charge to account for such operational 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 unpublished as is the case with many landline numbers today. The only way to get access to these phone numbers is to give a minor fee either to do a single number search or to join a lookup directory if you will be using the directory on a regular basis.