4 ms·

Reverse phone number lookup usually refers to finding a residential/business address tied to a phone number (historically a landline phone, but cell phones are

Reverse phone number lookup usually refers to finding a residential/business address tied to a phone number (historically a landline phone, but cell phones are also owned by people who have addresses), not the literal GPS location of the phone. I think white pages are still a thing, no? For the young 'uns - the white pages were part of the physical phone book in every city. You got a new phone book delivered to your doorstep each year for free. Yellow pages listed the phone numbers of every business, white pages listed the phone numbers of the residents. The crazy part is: almost everyone added their numbers voluntarily to the white pages, because you wanted people to be able to easily find and reach you.

5555624 4y ago
> The crazy part is: almost everyone added their numbers voluntarily to the white pages, because you wanted people to be able to easily find and reach you. The default was that your number would be in the phone book, it was not voluntary. If you wanted an unlisted number, you had to pay for it.
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 4y ago
  This is even crazier. For reference: I'm old enough to remember using landlines and white pages, but not old enough to have ever had a landline at my own address.
  - agiacalone 4y ago
    I moved to San Francisco in 1999, my early 20s, and got a landline. Cell phones were not yet the norm, and I really didn’t have much interest in having one until a girlfriend of mine insisted I get one in 2000. If I remember correctly, Pac Bell had a “opt in” white pages phone number removal which was not charged, but my parents just a few years prior had to pay for theirs with Pac Bell.
  - swexbe 4y ago
    You would have to be like <15 to not remember landlines.
kotaKat 4y ago
> I think white pages are still a thing, no? Rural NY; yes. I've gotten a very, VERY thin White/Yellow Pages in the past year. Barely anybody in the White Pages section, a majority of it is Yellow Pages and a majority of that is nearly full-page ads for national services, not local providers.

5555624 4y ago

> The crazy part is: almost everyone added their numbers voluntarily to the white pages, because you wanted people to be able to easily find and reach you. The default was that your number would be in the phone book, it was not voluntary. If you wanted an unlisted number, you had to pay for it.

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 4y ago
This is even crazier. For reference: I'm old enough to remember using landlines and white pages, but not old enough to have ever had a landline at my own address.
- agiacalone 4y ago
  I moved to San Francisco in 1999, my early 20s, and got a landline. Cell phones were not yet the norm, and I really didn’t have much interest in having one until a girlfriend of mine insisted I get one in 2000. If I remember correctly, Pac Bell had a “opt in” white pages phone number removal which was not charged, but my parents just a few years prior had to pay for theirs with Pac Bell.
- swexbe 4y ago
  You would have to be like <15 to not remember landlines.

kotaKat 4y ago

> I think white pages are still a thing, no? Rural NY; yes. I've gotten a very, VERY thin White/Yellow Pages in the past year. Barely anybody in the White Pages section, a majority of it is Yellow Pages and a majority of that is nearly full-page ads for national services, not local providers.