It used to be that everyone had a landline phone in their home and finding a 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 home phones, and if they do their number may be unlisted.

Even with the development of caller ID on most home phones, many numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to block their details from coming up. Reverse phone lookup providers have responded to these changing demands to provide a very timely service to resourceful phone users.

There are two common functions for these directories.

Searching for Names

If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number comes up on your caller ID, or you want 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 responsible for the phone calls in question.

People in search of lookup directories include those who need to check up on a number frequently phoning their spouse or teenager's cell phone, since there is no public directory for cell phone numbers. Others may use this when they need to know a name registered to a home phone that is unlisted. Whenever you have a phone number but are uncertain who it belongs to, a reverse phone lookup website can deliver the information.

Searching for Addresses

The other common purpose is to identify an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you plug into the information connected with a certain phone number most services will give additional information as well, such as the address of the landline or the address connected to a cell phone number.

This may not be an everyday need for most people, but it does have its benefits in some situations. For instance, consider a parent needing to track down a teenager who has run off or is still out well past 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 places the child may be at that time.

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

Lookup websites can also deliver a connection to other sorts of information, like 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 is a minor fee for any legitimate reverse phone lookup service, but if your business or personal life requires accurate information it is money well spent in the long run. The fee is unavoidable because this variety of information is not easy or free to research, pull together, and store, so dispensing it immediately to others like you must also collect a fee to make up for these working costs.

There more than likely will never be a phone book for cell phone numbers, and even if they were compiled most likely a lot of the numbers would be unlisted just like many home phone numbers right now. The best way to obtain access to such numbers is to pay a small fee either to complete a one time number search or to join a lookup directory if you will need to access the directory on a regular basis.