It used to be that 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 finding the name. It is often more complicated now that cell phones are widely used and many people do not even have landlines, and if they do their number may be unpublished.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 invention of caller ID on most landlines, a lot of numbers may come up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to prevent their details from appearing. Reverse phone lookup services have stepped up to these changing times to offer a very valuable service to modern phone users.
There are two typical functions for lookup directories.
Finding Names
If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number is revealed on your ID, or you want to identify cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can assist in finding the name listed to the number in question. Just by typing in the phone number you will have access to the person who is initiating those calls of concern.
People in search of such services include those wanting to identify a number frequently phoning their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no phone book for cell phone numbers. Others may use this when they need to identify a name connected to a home phone that may be unpublished. Anytime you have a number but aren't sure who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup service can help.
Searching for Addresses
another common function is to identify an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you plug into the contact information linked with a particular number most services will give other sorts of information as well, such as the address of an home phone or the address listed to a cell phone number.
This may not be a typical need for some people, but it does have its benefits in quite a few situations. For example, take a parent needing to track down a teenager who has run away or is still out long after curfew. If they can come up with numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly tell them addresses as well as names of places the child may be located.
Other circumstances may be searching for addresses to send out party invitations to your child's classmates. If you have the phone number you can access their address and easily deliver the invite without calling or tracking down other busy parents.
Lookup websites can also give you access to other kinds of information, such as income brackets or previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an estimated pinpoint of where the home or business is located.
There will be a small charge for any up to date reverse phone lookup website, but if your business or personal situation demands particular information it is worth the money in the long run. The fee is unavoidable because this kind of information is not simple or completely free to research, compile, and protect, so distributing it immediately to people such as you must also include a fee to account for these serviceable expenditures.
There more than likely will never be a public directory for cellular numbers, and even if they were compiled most likely the majority of the numbers would be unpublished just like many home phone numbers right now. The only way to obtain access to such phone numbers is to give a nominal charge either to complete a single number lookup or to join a lookup service if you will be using the service long term.