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 finding the name. It is often more complicated 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 invention of caller ID on most home phones, some numbers may appear without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their details from coming up. Reverse phone lookup services have stepped up to these changing times to provide a very timely service to resourceful phone users.
There are two common uses for lookup directories.
Searching for Names
If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number is revealed on your ID, or you need to figure out cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can assist in finding the name listed to the number of concern. Just by entering the phone number you will be able to identify the person who is behind the calls of concern.
People in search of lookup directories include those who need to check up on a number frequently calling their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no accessible directory for cell phone numbers. Other people may use this when they need to find a name connected to a landline that may be unpublished. If you have a number but are uncertain who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup service can deliver the information.
Locating Addresses
The other typical purpose is to find an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you find the contact information connected with a specific number most services will deliver other sorts of information as well, which may include the address of the home phone or the address listed 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 instance, consider a parent in a rush to find a teenager who has run away or is still out well past curfew. If they can come up with numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly uncover addresses as well as names of places the child may be at that time.
Other situations may be looking for addresses to send out party invitations to your child's friends. If you have the phone number you can find their address and get the invite in the mail without calling or tracking down other busy family.
These services can also give you a connection to other sorts of data, like income brackets and previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an rough pinpoint of the most current location.
There will be a nominal price for any relevant reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal life demands particular data it is worth the money in the long run. The fee is necessary because this variety of information is not easy or completely free to research, compile, and store, so issuing it as needed to people such as you must also include a charge to cover these serviceable costs.
There more than likely will never be a public directory for cellular numbers, and even if they were compiled it is probable a lot of the numbers would be unlisted as is the case with many home phone numbers right now. The only way to obtain access to these phone numbers is to pay a small fee either to complete a single number lookup or to join a lookup service if you will need to access the directory on a regular basis.