Here at Simple Telecom we like making things Simple – it’s in the name right? Our task in this article is to help break down the phone number prefix suburb Australia.
Straight away, let’s clarify that in Australia, phone number prefixes are defined by State and are set by the ACMA. Australia does not have phone number prefixes by suburb – these are instead separated by state, but – and its a big one – there are a lot of historical suburb based phone number prefixes that are recognised by the older generations.
To help you understand the complexity of the number prefixes and a local call, and how they work in Australia, we have a few key questions we want to answer:
A phone number prefix is generally the first 2 digits of a telephone number, however this could be extended to the first 4 digits of the number.
For example, mobile phones in Australia have a prefix of 04 when dialled from a local call, or a prefix of +614 if dialled from an international number.
A fixed line example would be 07 5445 5445 – in this scenario, 07 is the prefix.
The Australian telephone numbering plan has structured the telephone number prefixes in a uniform way. Typically, numbers are allocated in blocks of 10,000 to carriers or RSPs. They are attached to a specific suburb/region in the state.
Numbers that start with a 1 indicate they are non-geographic numbers and not attached to a specific suburb, state or location.
There are different rules for the geographic number phone prefixes for all countries, as such Australian numbers start with +61, followed by a single area code and eight succeeding local numbers.
Each state was originally assigned a distinct area code. The NSW & ACT uses (02), VIC & TAS uses (03), QLD uses (07), and SA, NT & WA uses (08). With the advent of VoIP and RSPs the clear state lines are now blurred and this can’t be assumed as 100% correct from 2020 onwards.
Inbound Numbers are virtual numbers without a geographic location tying them to a specific location. They are normal numbers and as such can be called from all Australian domestic telephone services, such as local call, mobile phones and emergency services.
There are 3 core types of Inbound numbers: 13, 1300 and 1800 numbers.
13 number are a six (6) digit number, most often compromised of very rememberable sequence of numbers (ie. 131 888) or spelling a word (ie. 13 TAXI). 13 Numbers unfortunately are heavily taxed by the government (INMS) with an annual levy in excess of $6500 making them really only suitable to organisations with deep pockets and the demand to have a very rememberable number from such mediums as TV or Radio.
1300 numbers are ten (10) digit numbers. They are by far the most common number for Australian business contact numbers. They don’t have the same hefty annual fee as the 13, but they don’t have the ‘community’ vibe that 1800’s give by default.
1800 numbers are ten (10) digit free call numbers. They are well used in the business and not-for-profit sector in the Australian Business community. The caller typically doesn’t pay a fee to call the 1800, the entire cost is bore by the recipient or owner of the 1800 number.
Australia uses a widely know format for all telephone numbers. This is an eight digit local phone number or local eight digit number preceded by a two digit code for the area code, which is commonly known as the STD code.
Fixed line numbers from New South Wales start with the prefix (or STD code/area code) 02 – this region is referred to as the Central East of Australia.
Fixed line numbers from Victoria and Tasmania, in the south east of Australia start with 03.
Queensland is in the North East of Australia and fixed line numbers in this region start with 07.
These 3 regions all share the 08 STD code. They cover a wide geographic region, however it is sparsely populated at this point. West Western Australia is a very remote region and does not have very many mobile phones, certainly not as many as New South Wales.
Calls that have no geographic location start with a 1, and include 13, 1300, 1800 & 1900 numbers.
The Australian Country Code for dialling from outside of Australia is 61. This is commonly referenced using a + as well, and it drops the leading 0 from the phone number.
So a mobile number or a mobile telephone number goes from 0422044099 to +61422044099 when dialing from an international number.
Australian postcodes are 4 digits long, starting in the 3 digit range for NT (1XX) through to 4 digits across the various states.
The Australia emergency services phone number is 000. From a mobile it is 112.
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