Not long ago, everyone had a landline phone in their home and locating a number or address was a matter of opening the white pages and searching for their name. Things have grown more difficult now that cell phones are in common use and many people do not even have home phones, and if they do their number may be unpublished.

Even with the invention of caller ID on most home phones, a lot of numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their name from coming up. Reverse phone lookup directories have stepped up to these changing demands to provide a very valuable service to modern phone users.

There are two common functions for these directories.

Finding Names

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

People looking for lookup directories include those who need to check up on a number frequently texting their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no accessible directory for cell phone numbers. Other people may use lookup directories when they need 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 website can deliver the information.

Locating Addresses

The other common function is to locate an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you plug into the contact information connected with a particular phone number most services will give additional information as well, such as the address of an home phone or an address connected to a cell phone number.

This may not be a typical need for most people, but it does have its uses in quite a few situations. For instance, consider a parent desperate to track down a teenager who has run off or has not returned home well past curfew. If they can get access to numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly tell them addresses and names of places the teenager may be at that time.

Other circumstances may be searching for addresses to mail out party invitations to your child's friends. If you have a phone number you can access their address and get the invite in the mail without calling and tracking down other busy people.

These services can also deliver access to other sorts of data, like income brackets and previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an estimated pinpoint to the business or home's location.

There is a minor fee for any legitimate reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal situation requires particular information 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 like you must also come with a fee to make up for these operational costs.

There more than likely will never be a phone book for cell phone numbers, and even if there were it is probable the majority of the numbers would be unpublished just like many home phone numbers right now. The best way to gain access to such numbers is to give a small fee either to complete a single phone number search or to join a lookup service if you will be using the directory on a regular basis.