It used to be that everyone had a landline phone in their home and searching for a phone number or address was a matter of opening the yellow pages and searching for their name. This has become more complicated 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 development 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 name from showing up. Reverse phone lookup directories have responded to these changing times to offer a very timely service to resourceful phone users.

There are two common uses for lookup services.

Finding Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number comes up 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 phone number in question. Just by typing in the number you will have access to the person who is initiating the calls of concern.

People needing this service include those who need to identify a number constantly texting 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 know a name listed to a home phone that is unlisted. If you have a number but are uncertain who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup directory can deliver the information.

Finding Addresses

The other common purpose is to identify an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you plug into the contact information associated with a particular phone number most directories will give other sorts of information as well, such as the address of an landline or an address connected to a cell phone number.

This may not be an everyday need for some people, but it does have its uses in quite a few situations. Such as a parent in a rush to track down a teenager who has run away or is still out well past curfew. If they can find phone numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly reveal addresses as well as names of places the child may be located.

More common circumstances may be looking for addresses to mail out party invitations to your child's classmates. If you have a phone number you can find their address and mail out the invitation without calling or tracking down other busy family.

These services can also deliver access 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 the most current location.

There will be a small charge for any legitimate reverse phone lookup website, but if your business or personal life requires accurate data it is worth the money in the long run. The charge is necessary because this kind of information is not simple or completely free to research, collect, and store, so distributing it immediately to people such as you must also come with a fee to make up for these working costs.

There likely will never be a public directory for cell phone numbers, and even if they were compiled most likely many of the numbers would be unlisted just like many home phone numbers right now. The only way to get access to these phone numbers is to put up a minor fee either to complete a one time phone number lookup or to join a lookup directory if you will be using the service long term.