Not long ago, everyone had a landline phone in their home and finding a number or address simply required opening the phone book and searching for their name. This has become more difficult now that cell phones are in common use and many people do not even have home phones, and if they do their number may be unpublished.

Even with the invention of caller ID on most landlines, many numbers may come up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to block their details from appearing. Reverse phone lookup providers have stepped up to these changing times to offer a very useful service to resourceful phone users.

There are two common uses for lookup services.

Finding Names

If you are getting calls from someone and only a number shows on your caller ID, or you want to figure out cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup directories can help you find out the name listed to the phone number of concern. Just by entering the number you will have access to whoever is initiating those phone calls in question.

People in search of lookup directories include those wanting to check up on a number often texting their spouse or teenager's cell phone, since there is no phone book for cell phone numbers. Others may use lookup directories when they want to find a name listed to a landline that is unpublished. Whenever you have a number but don't know who it belongs to, a reverse phone lookup website can assist you.

Finding Addresses

another typical use is to identify an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you gain access to the contact information linked with a specific phone number most services will deliver additional information as well, such as the address of an home phone or an address listed to a cell phone number.

This may not be a common need for some people, but it does have its benefits in quite a few situations. Such as a parent in a rush to track down a teenager who has run away or is still out well past curfew. If they can get access to numbers from the teenager's belongings or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly uncover addresses as well as names of locations the teenager may be located.

Other situations may be looking for addresses to send out party invitations to your child's peers. If you have a phone number you can get their address and get the invite in the mail without calling or tracking down other busy parents.

Lookup websites can also give you a connection to other sorts of information, such as income brackets or previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an rough pinpoint to the business or home's location.

There is a nominal price for any legitimate reverse phone lookup service, but if your business or personal situation demands certain data it is worth the money in the long run. The charge is necessary because this kind of information is not easy or free to research, collect, and protect, so distributing it immediately to others such as you must also include a charge to make up for these serviceable costs.

There more than likely will never be a phone book 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 get access to such phone numbers is to give a minor fee either to do a one time phone number lookup or to join a lookup service if you will be using the service on a regular basis.