It used to be that everyone had a landline phone in their home and finding a phone number or address simply required opening the phone book and searching for 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 widespread use of caller ID on most landlines, many numbers may come up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to block their name from showing up. Reverse phone lookup services have stepped up to these changing times to offer a very useful service to resourceful phone users.

There are two common uses for lookup services.

Locating Names

If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number is revealed on your ID, or you need to identify cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can help you find out the name registered to the phone number in question. Just by entering the phone number you will have access to whoever is responsible for the phone calls in question.

People needing lookup directories include those who need to check up on a number frequently texting their spouse or teenager's cell phone, since there is no accessible directory for cell phone numbers. Other people may use this when they want to identify a name listed to a home phone that is unlisted. Whenever you have a phone number but aren't sure who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup directory can help.

Searching for Addresses

The other typical use is to identify an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you plug into the contact information connected with a certain number most services will give other sorts of data as well, which includes 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 uses in quite a few situations. For example, take a parent in a rush to track down a teenager who has run off or is still out well past curfew. If they can get access to numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly tell them addresses and names of locations the teenager may be at that time.

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

These services can also deliver access to other sorts of data, such as income brackets or address histories, and one site even gives a map with an estimated pinpoint of the most current location.

There is a small charge for any relevant reverse phone lookup website, but if your business or personal life requires certain information it is worth the money in the long run. The charge is necessary because this kind of information is not easy or free to research, collect, and protect, so issuing it as needed to others like you must also collect a fee to account for such working expenditures.

There more than likely will never be a public directory for cell phone numbers, and even if they were compiled most likely a lot of the numbers would be unlisted as is the case with many home phone numbers right now. The best way to get access to these phone numbers is to give a minor charge either to complete a single phone number lookup or to join a lookup directory if you will be using the directory long term.