Not long ago, everyone had a landline phone in their home and finding a number or address simply required opening the phone book and locating the 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now that cell phones are widely used and many people do not even have home phones, and if they do their number may be unpublished.

Even with the development of caller ID on most landlines, a lot of numbers may come up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their details from coming up. Reverse phone lookup directories have responded to these changing times to provide a very timely service to modern phone users.

There are two typical functions for these services.

Locating Names

If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number shows on your caller ID, or you want to figure out cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can help you find out the name registered to the phone number of concern. Just by typing in the phone number you will have access to the person who is responsible for those phone calls in question.

People in search of such services include those who need to check up on a number often texting their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no phone book for cell phone numbers. Other people may use this when they want to know a name registered to a home phone that may be unlisted. Anytime you have a phone number but are uncertain who it belongs to, a reverse phone lookup directory can deliver the information.

Searching for Addresses

The other common use is to locate an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you find the information linked with a specific phone number most directories will deliver additional data as well, such as the address of the home phone or an address associated with a cell phone number.

This may not be an everyday need for some people, but it does have its uses in some situations. For instance, consider a parent desperate to track down a teenager who has run away or is still out long after curfew. If they can find phone 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 located.

Other situations may be looking for addresses to send out party invitations to your child's classmates. If you have their phone number you can get their address and mail out the invitation without calling or tracking down other busy family.

These services can also deliver access to other various types of data, including income brackets and previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an estimated pinpoint of where the home or business is located.

There is a minor fee for any legitimate reverse phone lookup website, but if your business or personal situation requires particular information it is worth the money in the long run. The fee is unavoidable because this kind of information is not simple or free to research, pull together, and save, so issuing it immediately to others such as you must also come with a charge to make up for these working costs.

There probably will never be a public directory for cellular numbers, and even if they were compiled it is probable the majority of the numbers would be unpublished just like many landline numbers right now. The only way to gain access to these phone numbers is to put up a nominal charge either to do a one time number lookup or to join a lookup service if you will be using the service long term.