It used to be that everyone had a standard phone in their home and finding a phone number or address was a matter of opening the phone book and finding the name. It is often more difficult now that cell phones are widely used 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 home phones, some numbers may come up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to block their details from coming up. Reverse phone lookup providers have stepped up to these changing times to provide a very timely service to modern phone users.

There are two common functions for these services.

Locating Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number shows on your ID, or you need to figure out cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can help you find out the name listed to the number in question. Just by entering the number you will have access to whoever is behind those calls of concern.

People needing such services include those who need to identify 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 Other people may use this when they want to find a name connected to a home phone that is unpublished. If you have a number but are uncertain who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup directory can assist you.

Locating Addresses

another typical use is to find an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you find the information linked with a certain number most directories will give additional information as well, which may include the address of the home phone or an address connected to a cell phone number.

This may not be an everyday need for some people, but it does have its benefits in some situations. Such as a parent desperate to find a teenager who has run off or has not returned home well past curfew. If they can get access to numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly reveal addresses and names of places the teenager may be at that time.

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

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

There is a nominal price for any legitimate reverse phone lookup service, but if your business or personal situation demands certain information it is money well spent in the end. The charge is required because this sort of information is not easy or free to research, compile, and protect, so distributing it as needed to people such as you must also collect a charge to make up for such working expenditures.

There probably will never be a public directory for cell phone numbers, and even if there were it is probable many of the numbers would be unlisted as is the case with many landline numbers right now. The only way to get access to these numbers is to put up a small fee either to complete a one time phone number search or to join a lookup directory if you will need to access the service on a regular basis.