It used to be that everyone had a standard phone in their home and finding a phone number or address simply required opening the white pages and finding 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 widespread use of caller ID on most home phones, some numbers may come up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their name from showing up. Reverse phone lookup providers have responded to these changing times to offer a very valuable service to resourceful phone users.
There are two common uses for these directories.
Searching for Names
If you are receiving calls from someone and only a number is revealed on your caller ID, or you need to figure out cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup directories can help you find out the name registered to the phone number in question. Just by entering the phone number you will have access to whoever is responsible for those phone calls in question.
People needing such services include those wanting to identify a number constantly phoning their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no accessible directory for cell phone numbers. Others may use lookup directories when they want to know a name listed to a home phone that may be unlisted. Anytime you have a number but aren't sure who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup directory can help.
Searching for Addresses
another common purpose is to locate an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you plug into the contact information linked with a particular number most services will deliver other sorts of data as well, which may include the address of an landline or the address listed to a cell phone number.
This may not be a common need for most people, but it does have its uses in some situations. For instance, consider a parent needing to find a teenager who has run off or is still out long after 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 teenager may be located.
More common circumstances may be looking for addresses to send out party invitations to your child's classmates. If you have the phone number you can get their address and easily deliver the invite without calling or tracking down other busy people.
Lookup directories can also deliver a connection to other kinds of information, like income brackets and previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an general pinpoint of the most current location.
There will be a nominal price for any legitimate reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal life requires accurate data it is money well spent in the long run. The charge is necessary because this kind of information is not easy or free to research, compile, and protect, so distributing it immediately to others like you must also collect a fee to cover these serviceable expenditures.
There probably will never be a public directory for cellular numbers, and even if they were compiled most likely many of the numbers would be unlisted as is the case with many landline numbers right now. The best way to get access to such numbers is to put up a small charge either to do a one time number search or to join a lookup service if you will be using the service on a regular basis.