Figuring out someone’s name and address from their cell phone number is one of the most popular problems in the developed world today. Thanks to the lack of a central government wireless directory, many people need people’s details but don’t know where to get them…until today.

The problem with cell phone numbers is that there is no central public directory for them. Unlike fixed lines, the government has not created a directory for cell phones for two important reasons. The first is that since cell phones are considered “private” numbers, the government saw fit not to reveal who owns them to the world. This was a controversial decision, but that is not changing.

The second reason is that since cell phone details are constantly changing, the government would simply not have enough resources to continually update any directory. Landlines are easy to register because they only change their details once every few years, but mobile phone locations and ownership information always change, so any directory needs to be constantly updated several times a week.

Although the lack of a central mobile phone directory is annoying, it is no longer a problem because there are several Internet companies that have provided even better service. Companies like Intelius and Reverse Phone Detective now allow you to quickly find anyone’s details with just their phone number, by entering the number on their website.

These sites are known as reverse cell phone lookup sites and are extremely popular. They work in a very intelligent way, using public records to reveal information such as someone’s name and address from their cell phone number. Public records are basically little packets of information that the government creates for you at times like when you’re born and when you apply for a loan. They are freely available for the public to view and can be purchased for a fee. These reverse phone companies buy millions of these records that contain cellular information and then put them in a central database that you can search from their site.