Not long ago, everyone had a landline phone in their home and searching for a number or address was a matter of opening the white pages and searching for their name. It is often more complex now that cell phones are in common use and many people do not even have landlines, and if they do their number may be unlisted.

Even with the development of caller ID on most landlines, many numbers may come up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to prevent their details 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 these services.

Locating Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number comes up on your caller ID, or you need to figure out cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can assist in finding the name registered to the number in question. Just by typing in the number you will have access to whoever is responsible for those phone calls in question.

People looking for this service include those wanting to check up on a number frequently phoning their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no phone book for cell phone numbers. Other people may use lookup directories when they need to find a name connected to a landline that is unpublished. Anytime you have a number but are uncertain who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup website can help.

Finding Addresses

another typical purpose is to locate an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you gain access to the contact information connected with a particular phone number most directories will deliver additional data as well, such as the address of the home phone 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 quite a few situations. Such as a parent needing to locate a teenager who has run off or has not returned home well past curfew. If they can find phone numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly uncover addresses as well as names of locations the teenager may be at that time.

More common situations 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 easily deliver the invite without calling or tracking down other busy family.

These services can also deliver access to other kinds of information, including income brackets and previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an estimated pinpoint of the most current location.

There will be a small charge for any up to date reverse phone lookup website, but if your business or personal situation requires certain information it is worth the money in the long run. The charge is unavoidable because this sort of information is not simple or free to research, compile, and store, so distributing it as needed to consumers like you must also collect a fee to cover such operational expenditures.

There probably will never be a phone book for cellular numbers, and even if they were compiled it is probable a lot of the numbers would be unpublished just like many home phone numbers right now. The only way to obtain access to such numbers is to give a nominal charge either to complete a single phone number lookup or to join a lookup directory if you will be using the service long term.