Not long ago, everyone had a landline phone in their home and locating a phone number or address simply required opening the white pages and finding the name. Things have grown 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 unlisted.
Even with the invention of caller ID on most landlines, some numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their name from showing up. Reverse phone lookup directories have stepped up to these changing demands to offer a very valuable service to modern phone users.
There are two common functions for these directories.
Searching for Names
If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number shows on your caller ID, or you want to figure out cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup directories can help you find out the name listed to the phone number in question. Just by entering the phone number you will be able to identify whoever is initiating the phone calls in question.
People in search of lookup directories include those wanting to identify a number constantly calling their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no public directory for cell phone numbers. Others may use lookup directories when they want to find a name connected to a home phone that may be unpublished. Whenever you have a number but aren't sure who it belongs to, a reverse phone lookup service can assist you.
Finding Addresses
The other common function is to find an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you find the information associated with a certain phone number most services will give additional information as well, such as the address of the landline or an address associated with 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. For example, take a parent in a rush to find a teenager who has run away or is still out long after curfew. If they can get access to numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly uncover addresses as well as names of locations the child may be at that time.
More common situations may be looking for addresses to mail out party invitations to your child's friends. If you have their phone number you can find their address and easily deliver the invite without calling or tracking down other busy family.
Lookup websites can also give you access to other sorts of data, including 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 is a small charge for any relevant reverse phone lookup service, but if your business or personal life requires certain data it is money well spent in the long run. The fee is required because this kind of information is not easy or completely free to research, collect, and store, so distributing it on demand to people such as you must also include a fee to cover these serviceable costs.
There probably will never be a phone book for cellular numbers, and even if there were most likely a lot of the numbers would be unlisted just like many landline numbers right now. The best way to gain access to these numbers is to put up a small charge either to complete a one time phone number search or to join a lookup service if you will be using the directory on a regular basis.