It used to be that everyone had a landline phone in their home and locating a number or address simply required opening the phone book and searching for the 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now that cell phones are in common use and many people do not even have landlines, and if they do their number may be unpublished.

Even with the development of caller ID on most landlines, a lot of numbers may appear without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their details from showing up. Reverse phone lookup providers have responded to these changing demands to provide a very valuable service to modern phone users.

There are two common uses for these services.

Finding Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number is revealed on your ID, or you want to identify cell phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can help you find out the name listed to the number in question. Just by entering the number you will have access to whoever is responsible for those bothersome phone calls.

People needing lookup directories include those who need to identify a number often texting their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no public directory for cell phone numbers. Other people may use lookup directories when they need to know a name registered to a landline that is unpublished. If you have a number but don't know who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup service can deliver the information.

Searching for Addresses

another typical function is to locate an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you gain access to the contact information connected with a certain number most directories will give other sorts of information as well, which includes the address of an 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 some situations. For example, take a parent needing to track down a teenager who has run away or has not returned home long after curfew. If they can find phone numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a reverse phone lookup could quickly tell them addresses as well as names of places the child may be located.

Other circumstances may be looking for addresses to send out party invitations to your child's friends. If you have their phone number you can get 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 various types of information, such as income brackets or previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an rough pinpoint of where the home or business is located.

There is a minor fee for any up to date reverse phone lookup service, but if your business or personal situation requires accurate information it is money well spent in the end. The fee is necessary because this variety of information is not easy or free to research, collect, and protect, so distributing it as needed to people such as you must also come with a fee to cover these serviceable costs.

There probably will never be a phone book for cellular numbers, and even if they were compiled most likely a lot of the numbers would be unlisted just like many home phone numbers right now. The only way to gain access to such numbers is to put up a small fee either to complete a one time number search or to join a lookup service if you will need to access the directory long term.