It used to be that everyone had a standard phone in their home and searching for a number or address was a matter of opening the yellow pages and finding their name. Things have grown more difficult now that cell phones are widely used and many people do not even have landlines, and if they do their number may be unpublished.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 home phones, many numbers may appear without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their details from showing up. Reverse phone lookup services have stepped up to these changing times to provide a very useful service to modern phone users.

There are two typical functions for these services.

Finding Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number comes up on your ID, or you need to identify cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can assist in finding the name listed to the phone number in question. Just by typing in the phone number you will have access to the person who is behind those phone calls in question.

People needing lookup directories include those who need to check up on a number often phoning their spouse or teenager's cell phone, since there is no public directory for cell phone numbers. Other people may use lookup directories when they want to identify a name listed to a home phone that is unlisted. Anytime you have a number but don't know who it belongs to, a reverse phone lookup service can help.

Finding Addresses

The other common use is to identify an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you gain access to the information connected with a specific number most services will give additional information as well, such as the address of the home phone or an address connected to a cell phone number.

This may not be a common need for most people, but it does have its uses in quite a few situations. For instance, consider a parent desperate to locate a teenager who has run off or is still out well past curfew. If they can find phone numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly tell them addresses and names of places the teenager may be located.

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

These services can also give you a connection to other sorts of information, like income brackets or previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an general pinpoint of the most current location.

There will be a minor fee for any legitimate reverse phone lookup service, but if your business or personal life requires certain information it is more than worth the payoff in the end. The charge is necessary because this kind of information is not simple or free to research, collect, and protect, so issuing it on demand to consumers such as you must also collect a fee to cover such working costs.

There more than likely will never be a phone book for cellular numbers, and even if they were compiled it is probable many of the numbers would be unpublished just like many landline numbers today. The only way to obtain access to these numbers is to pay a minor charge either to complete a one time number lookup or to join a lookup directory if you will be using the service long term.