1800 and 1300 Number services

Check our 1300-number Rate Plans here: Click here for 1300 Rates and Application form
There’s some confusion about what a 1300/1800number is and how it works;  Here we clarify that for you in simple layman’s terms.

Firstly, a 1300 or 1800 number is INCOMMING only ; You cannot dial out on a 1300 or 1800 number.  You must have other “real” telephone lines/numbers to dial out on.  (it is not possible to have the 13-/18- number show as your caller-ID to people that you call)

Secondly, 1300etc and 1800etc numbers are “virtual” numbers – they have always been “hosted in the cloud”  and existed long before the Internet and “the cloud” were even thought of.

They are a special number that exists only “back at the Telephone exchange” , and are directly connected to your normal phone number – So when someone dials your 1300/1800 number, it connects/forwards/rings to one of your lines (landline or mobile)

Who pays for what?

-Well, with an 1800-number, you get to offer a free inbound service to your Customers (to encourage them to call you for free, from anywhere in the country.  They call you, and –like a reverse-charge call- the entire cost of their call is billed to you instead of to the caller.   You get a bill that shows a basic service fee for the Provisioning of that 1800-number, and the bill will also bear the entire cost of every single call that you have received when someone calls you on that number. (And it is for that reason that the number is restricted to work only within Australia – you wouldn’t want to be paying for an international call if someone calls you from Overseas!)

1800 numbers help Businesses attract Customers by making it cheaper to call YOU than to call your competitor (if they don’t have an 1800  number) – and because the number works nationwide, it also demonstrates that you are keen to do business nation-wide, not just within your Local area.  Click here for 1800 Rates and Application form

The 1300-number is similar, yet different,  in that whilst there is a monthly fee, you’re not offering those calls to anyone for free –  What you are offering the caller is a number that they can call from anywhere within Australia for the cost of a local call.  So the Caller pays for a Local call, and if they are calling from outside your town, or across country, you get to pick up the bill for the rest of the call.  This is great for Businesses with a National footprint, that have people calling them from all over the country.  A 1300-number makes it easy and cost-effective for anyone, anywhere in Australia to call you.

Note that if your Business draws only from local-area demographic, then a 1300 number doesn’t (in terms of cost of a call) benefit either you or the caller; But it does give the impression that you are a Nationwide Company, offering your services Australia-wide.

1300-numbers help Businesses to demonstrate a Nationwide presence, and are often (but not always) easier numbers to remember than your local number.

How have things changed since the advent of the Internet and VoIP, then ?

-Well, when phone numbers are provided by a VoIP provider, they are known as SIP Trunks (SIP  stands for Session Initiation Protocol – it is just a method of connecting via the internet, just like, say TCP/IP) .

Never mind the names – here’s what VoIP does to change the 1300-number game:

Because all VoIP phone numbers are hosted in the “cloud” (instead of at the local exchange), – the ‘cloud’ sits over the entire country, with local connections (called Gateways or Points-of-Presence) in every town, on the internet.

Ok, so what this means is that a VoIP number (no matter what the digits actually are) exists virtually as a Local number everywhere, across the country.   So when you MAKE a call to anywhere in the country, it is a “local call”, and you only pay the cost of a Local call, even if you are calling across country.  Huge cost-savings there !

Also, because there are these “gateways” everywhere across the country, you can have a number that ‘appears’ to be in other geographical zones – So, for example, you could have (regardless of where you or your business is right now) not just a “local” directory number, but one that seems to be, say, a Melbourne or Perth or Sydney number.

So what, you ask ? – well here’s the benefit; You then can have a bunch of numbers for your Customers/Callers to chose from to make a “local” call to  you.  Your business may be Perth based,  but you can list contact numbers in  say Brisbane or Gold Coast, for people there to call you.  It costs them only a local call to reach you, no matter where your business is actually based (even offshore) – so in some ways VoIP provides a “Nationwide presence” in much the same way a 1300-number does.

So a VoIP number is both an IN-coming and an OUT-going service;  All calls you make country-wide are at the cost of a local call (about 10c untimed). You receive calls for free . The person calling your VoIP-number pays for the call; if your VoIP-number is “local” for them it is the cost of a local call only for them. Through your VoIP/SIP-Trunk provider, you are able to provide a local number in as many areas as you like, so that customers can call you cheaply.

There are other factors beside cost that you should consider before looking at VoIP, though – please read our VOIP page for more information and advice on what to be aware of.

“So how do I get a 1300 or 1800 number?”

Download 1300 Rates and Application form or Click here for 1800 Rates and Application form for Pricing and Plan choices – select what suits you best, and fax/email it to us.

“What if I already have a 1300-number, but I’d like to put it on a cheaper Plan  ?”

You CAN port your 1300-number – Download the 1300 Rates and Application form , make your Plan selection and in the “Nominated 1300number box enter your current Service Number, and fax/email it to us.  We will send you a Porting Authority form in return.

Download the 1300-number Application Form here: 1300 Application Form.
Download the 1800-number Application Form here: Click here for 1800 Rates and Application form