Not long ago, everyone had a landline phone in their home and searching for a number or address was a matter of opening the phone book and searching for their name. This has become more complicated now that cell phones are widely used and many people do not even have home phones, and if they do their number may be unpublished.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 widespread use of caller ID on most landlines, a lot of numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to prevent their name from appearing. Reverse phone lookup directories have stepped up to these changing demands to provide a very useful service to resourceful phone users.

There are two typical functions for lookup directories.

Locating Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number is revealed on your caller ID, or you need to figure out cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup directories can assist in finding the name listed to the number of concern. Just by entering the number you will have access to whoever is initiating those phone calls in question.

People in search of this service include those wanting to identify a number often calling their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no public directory for cell phone numbers. Others may use this when they want to identify a name connected to a landline that is unlisted. Whenever you have a number but aren't sure who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup service can help.

Searching for Addresses

another common purpose is to find an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you plug into the contact information linked with a certain number most services will deliver additional data as well, such as the address of the landline or an address connected to a cell phone number.

This may not be an everyday need for some people, but it does have its uses in quite a few situations. For example, take a parent needing to find a teenager who has run away or is still out well past curfew. If they can find phone numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly tell them addresses as well as names of places the teenager may be located.

Other circumstances may be looking for addresses to mail 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 access to other various types of data, like income brackets or address histories, 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 particular data it is more than worth the payoff in the long run. The charge is required because this sort of information is not simple or completely free to research, collect, and store, so issuing it on demand to consumers like you must also include a fee to account for these operational costs.

There probably will never be a public directory for cellular numbers, and even if they were compiled it is probable many of the numbers would be unpublished just like many landline numbers right now. The best way to obtain access to these numbers is to pay a nominal charge either to complete a one time phone number lookup or to join a lookup service if you will need to access the service on a regular basis.