Not long ago, everyone had a standard phone in their home and finding a number or address simply required opening the white pages and finding their name. It is often 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 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 stop their details from coming up. Reverse phone lookup providers have responded to these changing demands to provide a very useful service to resourceful phone users.

There are two common uses for these services.

Locating Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number shows on your caller ID, or you need to figure out cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can assist in finding the name listed to the number of concern. Just by typing in the phone number you will be able to identify the person who is responsible for those calls of concern.

People in search of lookup directories include those who need to check up on a number often phoning their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no phone book for cell phone numbers. Others may use lookup directories when they need to find a name listed to a home phone that is unpublished. Whenever you have a number but are uncertain who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup directory can help.

Searching for Addresses

another typical function is to locate an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you find the information connected with a particular phone number most services will deliver other sorts of information as well, such as the address of the landline or an address listed to a cell phone number.

This may not be a typical need for most people, but it does have its benefits in some situations. Such as a parent desperate to track down a teenager who has run away or is still out long after curfew. If they can get access to numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly uncover addresses and names of locations the teenager may be located.

More common 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 mail out the invitation without calling or tracking down other busy parents.

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

There is a minor fee for any relevant reverse phone lookup service, but if your business or personal life requires accurate data it is money well spent in the long run. The charge is required because this variety of information is not simple or free to research, collect, and store, so distributing it on demand to others such as you must also collect a charge to cover these operational costs.

There probably will never be a phone book for cell phone numbers, and even if they were compiled most likely the majority of the numbers would be unpublished just like many home phone numbers today. The only way to get access to such phone numbers is to give a minor charge either to do a one time phone number lookup or to join a lookup service if you will need to access the directory on a regular basis.