It used to be that everyone had a standard phone in their home and locating a number or address simply required opening the phone book and locating their name. Things have grown more difficult now that cell phones are widely used and many people do not even have landlines, and if they do their number may be unpublished.
Even with the invention of caller ID on most landlines, many numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their name from showing up. Reverse phone lookup services have stepped up to these changing times to provide a very timely service to modern phone users.
There are two typical uses for these services.
Finding Names
If you are getting calls from someone and only a number shows on your ID, or you want to identify cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup services can assist in finding the name registered to the phone number of concern. Just by entering the phone number you will have access to the person who is responsible for those phone calls in question.
People looking for this service include those wanting to check up on a number frequently phoning their spouse or teenager's cell phone, since there is no public directory for cell phone numbers. Others may use this when they need to find a name listed to a home phone that may be unlisted. Anytime you have a phone number but are uncertain who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup directory can deliver the information.
Locating Addresses
another common function is to identify an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you gain access to the contact information linked with a specific number most directories will give additional information as well, which may include the address of the home phone or the address listed to a cell phone number.
This may not be a typical need for some people, but it does have its uses in some situations. For instance, consider a parent desperate to find a teenager who has run away or has not returned home well past curfew. If they can find phone numbers from the teenager's bedroom or cell phone a lookup directory could quickly uncover addresses as well as names of locations the teenager may be located.
Other circumstances may be searching for addresses to mail out party invitations to your child's peers. If you have the phone number you can find their address and get the invite in the mail without calling or tracking down other busy people.
Lookup websites can also deliver a connection to other sorts of information, such as income brackets and address histories, and one site even gives a map with an rough pinpoint of where the home or business is located. There is a nominal price for any legitimate reverse phone lookup website, but if your business or personal life demands particular data it is worth the money in the long run. The charge is unavoidable because this sort of information is not simple or completely free to research, collect, and store, so issuing it as needed to others like you must also include a charge to cover such operational costs.
There probably will never be a phone book for cell phone numbers, and even if they were compiled it is probable many of the numbers would be unlisted as is the case with many landline numbers today. The only way to gain access to these phone numbers is to pay a nominal fee either to complete a single phone number lookup or to join a lookup service if you will need to access the service on a regular basis.