Not long ago, everyone had a landline phone in their home and searching for a number or address simply required opening the phone book and locating their name. This has become more complex now that cell phones are in common use and many people do not even have home phones, and if they do their number may be unpublished.
Even with the invention of caller ID on most home phones, many 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 stepped up to these changing demands to offer a very valuable service to resourceful phone users.
There are two typical functions for these directories.
Locating Names
If you are getting calls from someone and only a number comes up on your ID, or you want to figure out cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can assist in finding the name registered to the phone number in question. Just by entering the phone number you will have access to whoever is behind those phone calls in question.
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 public directory for cell phone numbers. Other people may use lookup directories when they want to find a name connected to a home phone that is unpublished. If you have a phone number but don't know who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup website can help.
Searching for Addresses
another common use is to locate an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you gain access to the information connected with a certain phone number most services will give other sorts of data as well, which includes the address of the landline or an address connected to a cell phone number.
This may not be a typical need for some people, but it does have its uses in some situations. Such as a parent desperate to track down a teenager who has run off or is still out well past curfew. If they can come up with numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly tell them addresses and names of places the child may be located.
More common circumstances may be searching for addresses to send out party invitations to your child's friends. If you have a phone number you can access their address and get the invite in the mail without calling or tracking down other busy people.
These services can also give you a connection to other various types of data, such as income brackets and previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an estimated pinpoint of the most current location.
There is a small charge for any up to date reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal life demands accurate data it is money well spent in the end. The fee is unavoidable because this sort of information is not simple or free to research, compile, and store, so distributing it on demand to others like you must also include a fee to make up for such serviceable costs.
There more than likely will never be a public directory for cellular numbers, and even if they were compiled it is probable the majority of the numbers would be unlisted as is the case with many landline numbers right now. The only way to gain access to these phone numbers is to pay a nominal fee either to do a single number search or to join a lookup service if you will need to access the service long term.