Not long ago, everyone had a landline phone in their home and finding a number or address was a matter of opening the white pages and searching for the name. Things have grown more complex 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 widespread use of caller ID on most landlines, many numbers may appear without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to prevent their name from coming up. Reverse phone lookup providers have responded to these changing demands to provide a very valuable service to resourceful phone users.

There are two typical uses for these directories.

Searching for Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number shows on your ID, or you want to figure out cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup directories can help you find out the name registered to the number of concern. Just by typing in the number you will have access to whoever is responsible for those calls of concern.

People looking for such services include those who need to check up on a number frequently texting their spouse or teenager's cell phone, since there is no public directory for cell phone numbers. Others may use lookup directories when they need to identify a name registered to a landline that may be unlisted. Whenever you have a phone number but don't know who it belongs to, a reverse phone lookup service can deliver the information.

Locating Addresses

The other common purpose is to locate an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you plug into the information associated with a specific number most services will give additional data as well, which includes the address of the landline or an address listed to a cell phone number.

This may not be an everyday need for most people, but it does have its uses in some situations. For instance, consider a parent in a rush to find a teenager who has run away or has not returned home long after curfew. If they can get access to numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly reveal addresses and names of places the child may be at that time.

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

These services can also give you a connection to other various types of information, including income brackets and previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an general pinpoint of where the home or business is located.

There is a nominal price for any up to date reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal life demands certain data it is worth the money in the end. The fee is unavoidable because this sort of information is not easy or completely free to research, pull together, and save, so distributing it immediately to people such as you must also collect a fee to make up for such working costs.

There more than likely will never be a phone book for cellular numbers, and even if there were it is probable many of the numbers would be unpublished as is the case with many home phone numbers right now. The only way to obtain access to these phone numbers is to put up a nominal charge either to complete a one time phone number search or to join a lookup directory if you will be using the directory long term.