It used to be that everyone had a landline phone in their home and searching for a phone number or address was a matter of opening the white pages and finding their name. Things have grown more complicated now that cell phones are widely used and many people do not even have home phones, and if they do their number may be unpublished.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 home phones, some numbers may come up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to block their name from appearing. Reverse phone lookup services have responded to these changing times to offer a very valuable service to modern phone users.
There are two common uses for lookup services.
Locating Names
If you are getting calls from someone and only a number comes up on your ID, or you want to figure out cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup directories can assist in finding the name registered to the phone number of concern. Just by typing in the phone number you will have access to whoever is behind those calls of concern.
People looking for such services include those who need to check up on a number constantly calling their spouse or children's cell phone, since there is no accessible directory for cell phone numbers. Others may use this when they need to know a name listed to a home phone that is unpublished. Anytime you have a number but aren't sure who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup website can deliver the information.
Finding Addresses
another typical use is to identify an address for someone, whether you know their name or not. Once you find the information associated with a particular phone number most directories will give other sorts of information as well, such as the address of an home phone or an address associated with a cell phone number.
This may not be a common need for some people, but it does have its uses in quite a few situations. Such as a parent in a rush to locate a teenager who has run off 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 locations the teenager may be at that time.
More common situations may be looking for addresses to mail out party invitations to your child's classmates. If you have their phone number you can find their address and mail out the invitation without calling or tracking down other busy family.
These services can also deliver access to other kinds of data, like income brackets or address histories, and one site even gives a map with an estimated pinpoint of the most current location.
There is a small charge for any legitimate reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal situation demands certain information it is worth the money in the long run. The fee is required because this sort of information is not simple or completely free to research, pull together, and protect, so issuing it immediately to consumers like you must also come with a charge to cover these operational costs.
There probably will never be a phone book for cell phone numbers, and even if there were it is probable a lot of the numbers would be unpublished as is the case with many landline numbers today. The only way to get access to such numbers is to pay a minor charge either to complete a one time number lookup or to join a lookup directory if you will need to access the directory on a regular basis.