Not long ago, everyone had a standard phone in their home and locating a phone number or address simply required opening the phone book and searching for their name. This has become more complicated 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 development of caller ID on most landlines, many numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to block their name from appearing. Reverse phone lookup providers have responded to these changing times to provide a very timely service to resourceful phone users.

There are two typical functions for these services.

Locating Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number comes up on your caller ID, or you need to identify cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can help you find out the name listed to the number in question. Just by typing in the number you will have access to the person who is initiating those calls of concern.

People needing lookup directories include those who need to check up on a number often calling their spouse or teenager's cell phone, since there is no public directory for cell phone numbers. Others may use this when they want to find a name listed to a landline that may be unlisted. If you have a phone number but are uncertain who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup directory can assist you.

Finding Addresses

another typical function is to identify an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you find the contact information linked with a certain number most services will give other sorts of data as well, which may include the address of the landline or an address listed to a cell phone number.

This may not be a typical need for some people, but it does have its uses in some situations. For instance, consider a parent needing to find a teenager who has run off or is still out well past curfew. If they can get access to numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly uncover addresses and names of locations the teenager may be at that time.

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

These services can also give you a connection to other sorts of data, like income brackets or previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an rough pinpoint of where the home or business is located.

There will be a small charge for any up to date reverse phone lookup service, but if your business or personal life demands certain information it is more than worth the payoff in the end. The charge is required because this kind of information is not easy or free to research, compile, and save, so dispensing it immediately to others like you must also include a fee to make up for these operational costs.

There more than likely will never be a phone book for cellular numbers, and even if there were most likely many of the numbers would be unlisted just like many landline numbers right now. The best way to obtain access to such phone numbers is to pay a minor fee either to complete a one time number search or to join a lookup service if you will need to access the service on a regular basis.