It used to be that everyone had a landline phone in their home and finding a phone number or address was a matter of opening the white pages and finding their name. It is often more complicated now that cell phones are widely used and many people do not even have landlines, and if they do their number may be unpublished.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 widespread use of caller ID on most home phones, a lot of numbers may show up without an identifying name and there are ways for callers to stop their details from appearing. Reverse phone lookup services have stepped up to these changing demands to provide a very valuable service to modern phone users.
There are two typical functions for these directories.
Locating Names
If you are getting calls from someone and only a number is revealed on your ID, or you need to identify cellular phone callers, reverse phone lookup directories can help you find out the name registered to the phone number in question. Just by typing in the phone number you will have access to whoever is initiating the phone calls in question.
People needing lookup directories include those who need 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 Others may use lookup directories when they need to know a name listed to a landline that may be unpublished. Anytime you have a number but don't know who it is connected to, a reverse phone lookup directory can deliver the information.
Locating Addresses
The other common function is to locate an address for someone, whether you know the name of the person or not. Once you gain access to the contact information associated with a particular number most services will give other sorts of information as well, which includes the address of an landline or the address connected to a cell phone number.
This may not be a common need for some people, but it does have its benefits in some situations. For example, take a parent in a rush to track down 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 lookup directory could quickly tell them addresses and names of places the child may be located.
More common situations may be looking for addresses to send out party invitations to your child's friends. If you have their phone number you can access their address and easily deliver the invite without calling and tracking down other busy parents.
These services can also give you a connection to other sorts of information, such as income brackets and previous addresses, and one site even gives a map with an general pinpoint of the most current location.
There is a small charge for any relevant reverse phone lookup directory, but if your business or personal life demands particular data it is more than worth the payoff in the end. The fee is required because this variety of information is not easy or free to research, pull together, and protect, so distributing it as needed to people such as you must also include a charge to make up for these operational costs.
There probably will never be a public directory for cellular numbers, and even if there were it is probable many of the numbers would be unpublished as is the case with many landline numbers right now. The only way to obtain access to these phone numbers is to give a minor charge either to complete a single phone number lookup or to join a lookup directory if you will be using the service on a regular basis.