It used to be that everyone had a standard phone in their home and locating a phone number or address was a matter of opening the phone book and searching for the 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now that cell phones are widely used and many people do not even have home phones, and if they do their number may be unpublished.

Even with the development of caller ID on most home phones, many numbers may appear without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their details from appearing. Reverse phone lookup directories have stepped up to these changing times to provide a very useful service to modern phone users.

There are two typical uses for these services.

Searching for Names

If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number shows on your caller ID, or you need to identify cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup directories can help you find out the name listed to the number in question. Just by entering the phone number you will be able to identify the person who is behind the bothersome phone calls.

People looking for such services 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. Others may use lookup directories when they want to identify a name connected to a home phone that may be unlisted. If you have a phone number but are uncertain who it belongs to, a reverse phone lookup directory can deliver the information.

Locating Addresses

another common purpose is to find an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you find the information linked with a specific number most directories will deliver additional information as well, which may include the address of the home phone or an address listed to a cell phone number.

This may not be a typical need for most people, but it does have its uses in some situations. For instance, consider a parent in a rush to locate a teenager who has run away or is still out long after curfew. If they can come up with numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly uncover addresses as well as names of locations the child may be at that time.

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 access their address and easily deliver the invite without calling and tracking down other busy people.

Lookup websites can also deliver access to other various types of information, like income brackets and address histories, and one site even gives a map with an rough pinpoint of the most current location.

There is a minor fee for any legitimate reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal life demands certain information it is worth the money in the long run. The fee is unavoidable because this variety of information is not simple or free to research, pull together, and save, so dispensing it immediately to others like you must also include a charge to account for these serviceable expenditures.

There likely will never be a phone book for cellular numbers, and even if there were it is probable a lot of the numbers would be unpublished as is the case with many landline numbers today. The only way to get access to these phone numbers is to pay a nominal charge either to complete a one time phone number search or to join a lookup service if you will be using the directory on a regular basis.