Not long ago, everyone had a standard phone in their home and locating a phone number or address was a matter of opening the yellow pages and searching for the name. It is often 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 invention of caller ID on most home phones, some numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their name from appearing. Reverse phone lookup providers have stepped up to these changing times to provide a very timely service to modern phone users.

There are two common functions for lookup directories.

Locating Names

If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number is revealed on your caller ID, or you want to figure out cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can assist in finding the name registered to the phone number of concern. Just by typing in the phone number you will be able to identify whoever is responsible for the phone calls in question.

People needing such services include those who need to identify a number often texting 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 Other people may use lookup directories when they want to find a name listed to a home phone that is unpublished. Anytime you have a number but are uncertain who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup service can assist you.

Finding Addresses

another typical use is to locate an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you gain access to the information connected with a particular phone number most services will give other sorts of data as well, such as the address of the home phone or the address associated with a cell phone number.

This may not be an everyday need for some people, but it does have its uses in some situations. Such as a parent desperate to locate a teenager who has run away or has not returned home 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 located.

Other circumstances may be searching for addresses to send out party invitations to your child's friends. If you have their 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 kinds of data, such as income brackets and address histories, and one site even gives a map with an rough pinpoint of the most current location.

There will be a nominal price for any up to date reverse phone lookup website, but if your business or personal situation demands particular information it is money well spent in the long run. The charge is necessary because this sort of information is not easy or free to research, collect, and protect, so distributing it immediately to consumers such as you must also collect a charge to account for such serviceable expenditures.

There more than likely will never be a phone book for cell phone numbers, and even if they were compiled it is probable the majority of the numbers would be unlisted just like many landline numbers today. The best way to obtain access to such numbers is to put up a small fee either to do a single phone number search or to join a lookup directory if you will be using the service long term.