It used to be that everyone had a landline phone in their home and locating a number or address was a matter of opening the phone book and searching for the 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 invention of caller ID on most landlines, some numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to block their name from appearing. Reverse phone lookup directories have stepped up to these changing demands to offer a very valuable service to resourceful phone users.

There are two common uses for these directories.

Locating Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number shows on your ID, or you want to figure out cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can help you find out the name registered to the phone number in question. Just by typing in the number you will have access to the person who is initiating those calls of concern.

People looking for such services include those wanting to check up on a number often calling 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 listed to a home phone that is unlisted. Whenever you have a phone number but don't know who it belongs to, a reverse phone lookup website can help.

Locating Addresses

another typical function is to find an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you plug into the contact information connected with a specific number most services will give additional information as well, which may include the address of an landline or an address connected to a cell phone number.

This may not be a common need for most people, but it does have its benefits in some situations. For example, take a parent in a rush to locate a teenager who has run off or has not returned home 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 locations the teenager may be located.

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

Lookup websites can also give you access to other various types of information, such as income brackets or address histories, and one site even gives a map with an general pinpoint of the most current location.

There is a minor fee for any legitimate reverse phone lookup website, but if your business or personal life requires accurate data it is money well spent in the end. The fee is unavoidable because this kind of information is not simple or free to research, collect, and protect, so dispensing it on demand to consumers like you must also collect a fee to account for such operational expenditures.

There likely will never be a public directory for cell phone numbers, and even if they were compiled most likely the majority of the numbers would be unpublished as is the case with many landline numbers today. The only way to obtain access to such phone numbers is to pay a small fee either to do a one time number lookup or to join a lookup service if you will need to access the service long term.