Not long ago, everyone had a standard phone in their home and locating a number or address was a matter of opening the yellow pages and finding their name. This has become 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 development of caller ID on most home phones, some numbers may come up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to block their name from showing up. Reverse phone lookup providers have stepped up to these changing times to offer a very timely service to modern phone users.

There are two typical functions for these services.

Searching for Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number shows on your caller ID, or you need to figure out cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can assist in finding the name listed to the number in question. Just by typing in the phone number you will be able to identify the person who is initiating the phone calls in question.

People needing such services include those who need to identify a number frequently phoning their spouse or teenager's cell phone, since there is no public 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. Whenever you have a number but are uncertain who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup website can deliver the information.

Locating Addresses

another common use is to find an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you find the information connected with a particular number most directories will deliver other sorts of data as well, which may include the address of the landline or the address associated with a cell phone number.

This may not be a common need for most people, but it does have its benefits in quite a few situations. Such as a parent needing to find a teenager who has run away or is still out well past curfew. If they can find phone numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly uncover addresses and names of places the teenager 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 their phone number you can access their address and mail out the invitation without calling and tracking down other busy people.

These services can also deliver access to other various types of data, like income brackets and previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an general pinpoint to the business or home's location.

There will be a minor fee for any up to date reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal situation requires accurate data it is worth the money in the end. The fee is necessary because this variety of information is not easy or completely free to research, compile, and save, so distributing it immediately to others such as you must also collect a fee to make up for such operational costs.

There probably will never be a public directory for cell phone numbers, and even if they were compiled most likely a lot of the numbers would be unpublished just like many home phone numbers today. The best way to get access to these phone numbers is to pay a minor charge either to do a one time number search or to join a lookup directory if you will need to access the directory on a regular basis.