Not long ago, everyone had a landline phone in their home and locating a phone number or address simply required opening the yellow pages and locating their name. Things have grown more complicated now that cell phones are widely used and many people do not even have landlines, and if they do their number may be unlisted.

Even with the development of caller ID on most home phones, a lot of numbers may come up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to block their details from showing up. Reverse phone lookup services have responded to these changing times to provide a very valuable service to resourceful phone users.

There are two typical functions for these directories.

Finding 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 directories can help you find out the name registered to the phone number of concern. Just by entering the phone number you will have access to the person who is initiating those calls of concern.

People in search of this service include those wanting 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 Other people may use lookup directories when they need to know a name registered to a landline that is unpublished. Whenever you have a phone number but are uncertain who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup website can assist you.

Finding Addresses

The other common function is to locate an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you find the information connected with a particular number most services will deliver additional information as well, which may include the address of an home phone or an address associated with a cell phone number.

This may not be a typical need for some people, but it does have its benefits in quite a few situations. Such as a parent needing 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 lookup directory could quickly tell them addresses and names of places the teenager may be at that time.

More common situations may be searching for addresses to send out party invitations to your child's peers. If you have a phone number you can access their address and mail out the invitation without calling and tracking down other busy people.

Lookup directories can also deliver access to other kinds of data, including income brackets and previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an general pinpoint to the business or home's location.

There will be a nominal price for any up to date reverse phone lookup website, but if your business or personal situation demands certain information it is more than worth the payoff in the end. The fee is necessary because this variety of information is not simple or completely free to research, pull together, and save, so issuing it on demand to consumers such as you must also come with a fee to cover these working costs.

There 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 get access to these phone numbers is to put up a minor charge either to do a one time phone number lookup or to join a lookup directory if you will need to access the directory long term.