Australian telephone numbering plan
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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.
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[edit] 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 are prefixed 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. The numbers are still allocated in blocks, so a new number will generally still be on its "home" network.
[edit] Overview
The following is the numbering plan in domestic format. The area codes do not exactly match political territories. Notably Broken Hill, 08 80xx, which is almost fully in NSW, 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 1234 5678, to the number 02 1111 1111, will get through if the caller only dials 1111 1111. Similarly, a person who dials 1234 5678 on a mobile phone in Melbourne (in the 03 area) will be connected to 03 1234 5678. For this reason, landline numbers are usually given out without the area prefix.
Internationally the first 0 is replaced by the country code (eg +61 2 ... for NSW). End-user numbers are 10 digits long, conventionally written in the form 0x xxxx xxxx for geographic and 04xx xxx xxx for mobile numbers.
- 00 Emergency and International access (See below)
- 01 Alternate phone services
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- 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)
[edit] 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
- 0x 5551 reserved for fictitious use. (not including x=3)
- 0x 7010 reserved for fictitious use.
[edit] 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; 0400 Telstra
However mobile number portability means the number might have been moved. Also, this "rule of thumb" is also not accurate where x is 3 or greater. (eg. 0433 is Hutchinson ("Three Mobile"), 0434 is Optus). There are also many resellers, and many companies buy "air time" from other companies for roaming.
[edit] 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
[edit] 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)
- 001 International access numbers [+1D+countrycode+number]
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- 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
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- 1100 - Dial Before You Dig
- 112 - Emergency from GSM mobile phones only
- 114 - Mass calling service [+5D]
- 119 - Community service [+1D] (eg 1194 is time and 1196 is weather)
- 12 - Network services
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- 122 - Operator services (eg 1223 is directory assistance) [+1D]
- 126 - Internal network services [+?D]
- 127 - Testing numbers (eg 12722123 reads your number) [+variesD]
- 13 - Local rate calls [+4D or +6D or +8D]
- 14 - Carrier selection override prefix [+2D+number]
- 15 - Internal network testing [+?D]
- 180 - FreeCall [+4D or +7D]
- 183 - Control service (prefix) eg: [+1D+number]
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- 1831 - Block caller-id sending
- 1832 - Unblock Caller-id sending
- 188 - Premium SMS [+4D] (since moved to 19 range)
- 19 - Premium rate services [+4D or +6D or +8D]
Some Notes:
- These numbers do not have a trunk prefix (0).
- The 106 number is believed to be the first TTY emergency service in the world.
- The 13 numbers are generally 6 digits, but are expensive for the number owner (over $1,000/month); or 10 digits beginning with 1300.
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- These numbers provide source-based routing, used by organisations such as pizza chains that advertise one number nationwide that connects customers to their nearest store.
- Numbers beginning with 1345 are 8 digits and are only for back-to-base monitored alarm systems.
- Virtually all FreeCall numbers in use are 1800 [+6D].
- Premium rate services are 190 [+7D] for voice calling, or 6 or 8 digits total for premium SMS.
- 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.
[edit] Historic numbering plans
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 privately imported (eg. roaming) telephones.
106 is for the hearing-impaired for use with a TTY terminal.
[edit] Freecall 1300 numbers, Toll free 1800 numbers, local and premium-rate numbers
Australia also uses the free call area code 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 area code (prior to the introduction of 8-digit numbers, the area code was 008).
1800 and 1300 numbers are reverse charge networks. The difference between a 1300 number and an 1800 number is that a 1300 number attracts a local call connect fee (around 25c). A call to an 1800 is free (no fee to the caller).
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.
There are also 13 and 1300 numbers, known as Local Rate Numbers or smartnumbers[1]. 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.
All calls to 0198 numbers are similarly a "local call" cost to '13' and '1300' numbers but are used for internet service provider access numbers. They are used both with dial up modems and ISDN.
[edit] Other numbers
014 numbers are for satellite phones. There is some cross-over with 04 numbers, however.
