Telephone numbers in Australia
The Australian telephone numbering plan describes the allocation of phone numbers in Australia. It has changed many times, the most recent major reorganisation by the Australian Communications Authority taking place between 1994 and 1998.
Present numbering plan
Australia is divided geographically into four large area codes, some of which cover more than one state and territory. The standard telephone number in Australia has ten digits, of which the first is '0'.
Fixed line telephone numbers in Australia consist of the area code (two digits, starting with '0'), and an eight-digit local number. The first four "local" digits generally specify the exchange, and the final four a line at that exchange. (Most exchanges, though, have several four-digit exchange codes - whereas in regional areas they use 5-digit exchange codes and 3-digit line numbers. Some very small exchanges can even have a 6-digit exchange code if there will never be more than 100 lines on that exchange.)
Mobile phone numbers begin with 04, followed by eight digits. e.g. 04yy yxx xxx. The y-digit codes are allocated per network, although with the introduction of number portability, there is no longer a fixed relationship between the mobile phone number and the network it uses. New numbers are still allocated to phone companies in blocks, so a new number will generally still be on its "home" network.
Overview
The following is the numbering plan in domestic format. The area codes do not exactly match political territories. Notably the part of NSW around Broken Hill (one third of the state's area but less than 1% of its population), which uses 08 80xx numbers; and Wodonga, which is in Victoria but uses the 02 prefix.
Landlines use an open dialling plan: if the caller's phone shares the same area prefix as the receiver, the prefix may be omitted. For example a call from the number 02 5551 5678, to the number 02 7010 1111, will get through if the caller only dials 7010 1111. Similarly, a person who dials 7010 5678 on a landline or mobile phone in Melbourne (ie, within the 03 area) will be connected to 03 7010 5678. For this reason, landline numbers are often given out without the area prefix. If your number and the destination number share the same area code, then the area code is not required, even if it isn't a "local" call.
Mobile numbers must always be dialled as complete 10 digits, no matter where they are being called from. The 04 prefix is a prefix, not an "area code", as such.
Internationally the first 0 is replaced by the country code (eg +61 2 ... for NSW or +61 4... for a mobile number). Some numbers beginning with a 1 may be dialled without any replacement. (see below) There has been careful planning to avoid clashing with 01x numbers in this case.
End-user numbers are 10 digits long, conventionally written in the form (0x) xxxx xxxx for geographic and 04xx xxx xxx for mobile numbers. If the number is written where it may be viewed by an international audience (eg on an email signature or website) then the number is often written as +61 x xxxx xxxx or +61 4xx xxx xxx respectively.
- 00 Emergency and International access (See below)
- 01 Alternate phone services
- 014 satellite phone services
- 016 paging [+3D or +6D]
- 018 analogue (AMPS) mobile phone - few numbers still in use [+6D]
- 0198 data networks [+2D or +6D]
- 02 Central East region (NSW, ACT)
- 03 South-east region (VIC, TAS)
- 04 mobile services (Digital - GSM, CDMA, 3G)
- 05 Universal/Personal numberings (uncommon)
- 07 North-east region (QLD)
- 08 Central and West region (SA, NT, WA)
- (Geographical region boundaries do not exactly follow state borders.)
- 1 Non-geographic numbers (See below)
Geographic Numbers (02, 03, 07, 08)
Geographical areas are identified by the first few digits of the local number:
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- ^ means not the entire charge zone
- (new) means new since renumbering
- (proposed) prefixes proposed by ACMA to be legislated by end of 2007[1]
- 0x 5551 reserved for fictitious use. (not including x=3)
- 0x 7010 reserved for fictitious use.
Mobile Phone numbers (04)
Generally the following numbers apply for the following mobile companies:
- 04x1; 04x2; 04x3 Optus
- 04x4; 04x5; 04x6 Vodafone
- 04x7; 04x8; 04x9 Telstra
- 04x0 is used by many different companies
This "rule of thumb" is also not accurate where x is 2 or greater. (eg. 0425 and 0433 is Hutchison ("Three Mobile"), 0434 and 04350 is Optus, 0449 and 0450 are Vodafone, 0431 is Virgin and 0426 is unallocated). 0400 was One.Tel and is now Telstra. Other than Vodafone's 0449 Telstra is the only company to have 044y numbers with 0447 and 0448. It also has 0488AND 0458 except 04888 which belongs to "Student Administration Pty Ltd". The rest of 044 and 048; 046, 047 and 049 is not allocated (as of May 2007).
However mobile number portability means an individual number might have been "ported". There are also many resellers, and many companies buy "air time" from other companies for roaming.
Personal numbers (05)
- 0500 - "Find me anywhere" - divert the number to a mobile or normal number and the caller pays the bill
- 0550 - Proposed VOIP range
- 059 - Enum testing numbers
Other non-geographic numbers (00, 1)
The following codes are not generally dialable from international points, but used in domestic dialling:
- 000 - Emergency (Police, Fire, Ambulance)
- 001x International access numbers
- 0011 international access (default)
- 0014 international access (Primus)
- 0015 international access (Telstra - fax)
- 0016 international access (Telstra)
- 0018 international access (Telstra - "easy half hours")
- 0019 international access (Singtel Optus)
- (Normally when choosing an international alternate carrier one would dial 14xx 0011 [countrycode] [number].)
- 106 - TTY emergency (for the hearing-impaired)
- 11 - Community service
- 1100 - Dial Before You Dig
- 112 - Emergency from GSM mobile phones only
- 114x xxxx - Mass calling service
- 119x - Community service (eg 1194 is time and 1196 is weather)
- 12 - Network services
- 122x - Operator services (eg 1223 is directory assistance)
- 123x - Operator services (eg 1234 is Sensis personal assistance)
- 124xx - Operator services (eg 12456 is Sensis Call Connect)
- 1268x, 1268 xxxx and 1268 xxx xxx - Internal network services
- 127 - Testing numbers (eg 12722123 reads your number) (length varies)
- 13 xx xx, 1345 xxxx and 1300 xxx xxx - Local-like rate calls
- 1345 xxxx - Local rate calls (only used for base-to-base monitored alarm systems)
- 14xx - Carrier selection override prefix (followed by local number)
- 15 - Internal network testing
- 180 xxxx and 1800 xxx xxx - FreeCall
- 183x - Control service (prefix) eg:
- 1831 - Block caller-id sending
- 1832 - Unblock Caller-id sending
- 188 xxxx - Premium SMS (since moved to 19 range)
- 19 xx xx, 19x xxxx and 19xx xxxx - Premium SMS
- 190x xxx xxx - Premium rate services (usually 1902 and 1900)
Some Notes:
- These numbers do not have a trunk prefix (0).
- The 106 number is believed to be the first nation-wide TTY emergency service in the world.
- 13 xx xx and 1300 xxx xxx numbers provide source-based routing, used by organisations such as pizza chains that advertise one number nationwide that connects customers to their nearest store.
- Virtually all FreeCall numbers in use are 1800 xxx xxx, although there are a few organisations using the shorter 7-digit version.
- Some of these numbers are dialable from overseas, it is up to the individual owner to set this up correctly (for 13 and 180 numbers at least) (eg +61 13x xxx)
The current numbering plan would appear to be sufficient to cope with potential increase in demand for services for quite some time to come. The 06 and 09 area codes are completely unused, plus each current area code has large spaces unallocated.
Historic numbering plans
0055 numbers were previously premium-rate numbers, but have been moved into 190 numbers before 1999. They are still referenced by many Australians.
013 was previously the directory assistance number, which has been moved to 1223 and 12456.
Until the early 1960s, the first one or two digits of telephone numbers in metropolitan areas were alphabetical, with each letter representing a distinct number on the telephone dial. Each one-letter or two-letter code signified an exchange within an urban area. Rural and regional areas typically relied on manual exchanges, or only one automatic exchange for the whole town, so rural and regional numbers did not feature these letter prefixes.
This alphanumeric scheme was significantly different to the current system used for SMS messages.
The former alphanumeric scheme was:
A = 1 B = 2 F = 3 J = 4 L = 5 M = 6 U = 7 W = 8 X = 9 Y = 0
International access codes
The main international prefix is 0011 (there are others for special purposes, such as 0018, for charging in half-hour blocks, 0015, for fax traffic, and 0014, for discounted rates). However, carrier selection codes (14xx) are now also used, and carrier pre-selection is widely used.
Emergency services number
000 is the emergency telephone number in Australia, but the international GSM mobile emergency telephone number 112 also works on mobile phones.
Increased awareness of the 112 emergency number in Australia has led to the potential for confusion over which number to call in an emergency. 112 does not work from land lines, but confers special benefits when dialled from GSM mobiles (use of any carrier, preferential routing, etc). The ACA has worked to ensure that the benefits of 112 also extend to 000 on mobile phones; however, this can not be guaranteed on older or privately imported (eg. roaming) telephones.
106 is for the hearing-impaired for use with a TTY terminal.
Freecall, local-rate and premium-rate numbers
Australia uses the free call prefix 1800. This is copied from the U.S. prefix 1-800, but while in North America, the 1 is the long-distance prefix and 800 is the area code, 1800 in Australia is itself an "virtual area code" (prior to the introduction of 8-digit numbers, the "area code was" 008).
The 13 and 1300 numbers are known as Local Rate Numbers or SmartNumbers[2]. These work across large areas (potentially the whole of Australia) and only charge a local call, routing the call to the appropriate place in a given area. For example, a company could have the number 139999 and have the telephone company set it up so that calls made in Melbourne would route to their Melbourne number, calls made in Brisbane to their Brisbane number, and calls made anywhere else in Australia route to their Sydney number, all at a local charge cost to the caller. 13 numbers were not available before the introduction of the new numbering plan.
1800, 1300 and 13 numbers are reverse charge networks. There is no real difference between a 13 number and a 1300 number other than the length of the number. The difference between a 13 number and an 1800 number is that a 13 number attracts a local call connect fee (around 25c). A call to an 1800 is free (no fee to the caller if using a landline phone; mobile users are usually charged at standard rates). These numbers "forward" to a geographic or mobile number. When a 13 number is called by a user in the same local call area there is no cost to the recipient for the first few minutes. The recipient is usually charged at a set rate per minute for each call, depending on plan and destination.
Similarly, 190x (not to be confused with 0198, described below) is the code for premium rate services (i.e. recorded information, competition lines, psychics, phone sex, etc). (Prior to the introduction of 8-digit numbers, the area code was 0055.) 190 numbers incur a rate as charged by the provider - either at a per-minute rate (limited at $5.50 per minute) or a fixed rate (up to $38.50 per call). The latter method is most often used for fax-back services, where a timed charge is not appropriate. Costs of 190 calls for competitions involving chance are also often limited by state legislation to $0.55 per call. (In the previous numbering plan, 0055 numbers were limited to three bands: Premium Rate, Value Rate and Budget Rate, with per minute rates of $0.75, $0.60 and $0.40 respectively.)
Other numbers beginning with 19 are used for premium-rate SMS services. These were originally trialled using the 188 prefix. These can actually range from a standard SMS cost (usually 25c), up to 55c for competition use, to several dollars for other uses, such as unique bid auctions.
All calls to 0198 numbers are a "local call" cost like 13 and 1300 numbers but are used for internet service provider access numbers. They are used both with dial up modems and ISDN.
Other numbers
014 xxx xxx numbers are for satellite phones. This prefix was used many years ago for AMPS mobile phones.