13
13 numbers (13 xx xx)
Six-digit local-rate smartnumbers held by banks, airlines, insurers and government — the shortest and most valuable business numbers in Australia.
Cost and risks →Number types and costs: what does each call cost?
Beyond landlines and mobiles, the Australian numbering plan reserves service families with very different price tags: from guaranteed-free calls (1800) through local-rate business numbers (13, 1300) up to premium services (190x), where a few minutes can cost serious money. Special cases: satellite phones on 014x — normal to receive, expensive to call back.
Cost comparison
Indicative scale per numbering family; the exact price of a premium call depends on the service and must be disclosed in its advertising. Source: national numbering plan / ACMA register.
1300
1300 numbers (local rate)
Ten-digit local-rate business numbers: the caller pays a local-call share and the business pays the rest, so any Australian business can have one national number.
Cost and risks →1800
1800 numbers (freephone)
Free-call numbers: the business pays the whole cost of the call, from landlines and (since 2015) from mobiles too. Includes the legacy seven-digit 180 xxxx range.
Cost and risks →190
190x premium services
Premium-rate numbers (1900/1901/1902…): information and entertainment services billed per call or per minute on your phone bill.
Cost and risks →014
Satellite phones (014x)
Australian satellite telephone numbers (0141–0145): Optus and other satellite services for remote-area users.
Cost and risks →01
01x special services
The 01 range hosts special network services — satellite phones, data network access and other technical allocations.
Cost and risks →Called by a service number?
Check the exact number with the reverse lookup and see the spam barometerfor the community's latest reports. Remember you can ask your telco to bar calls to 190x premium numbers — many plans now bar them by default.
Guides on costs and special numbers
- 1300, 1800 and 13 numbers explained: who's calling and what it costs — The three smartnumber families — six-digit 13 numbers, 1300 local-rate and 1800 freephone — what each costs from mobiles and landlines, who owns them, and why scammers love to spoof them.
- How to check if a phone number is a scam — A practical checklist: search the number, read community reports, check Scamwatch's current alerts, verify against the organisation's published number — and the red flags that decide it in seconds.
- Why am I getting calls from overseas numbers? — Missed calls from +44, +63, +234 and stranger codes: which country each prefix belongs to, how the wangiri one-ring scam works, and why a +61 caller can still be dialling from abroad.
- Current phone scams in Australia — The scripts doing the rounds right now: ATO tax debts, NBN disconnection threats, toll-road payment texts, the 'Hi Mum' WhatsApp scam and bank impersonation — with the tells for each one.