Talk:Telephone numbers in Australia

message: Proposed alternatives (testing layouts - works in progress):
02	4xxx xxxx	Regional 1 New South Wales (Primarily Coastal, near Sydney)
02	6xxx xxxx	Regional 2 New South Wales (Primarily further from Sydney than (02)4 numbers)
02	8xxx xxxx	Sydney
02	9xxx xxxx	Sydney
03	5xxx xxxx	Regional Victoria
03	6xxx xxxx	Tasmania (incl. Hobart)
03	8xxx xxxx	Melbourne
03	9xxx xxxx	Melbourne
07	3xxx xxxx	Brisbane
07	4xxx xxxx	Regional Queensland
07	5xxx xxxx	South-east Queensland (including Gold Coast)
08	6xxx xxxx	Perth
08	7xxx xxxx	Adelaide
08	8xxx xxxx	South Australia (incl. Adelaide)/Northern Territory (incl. Darwin) / Broken Hill (NSW)
08	9xxx xxxx	Western Australia (inc. Perth)
some ideas to contribute:  regional (state) should be divided into two sections
e.g. for nsw, 02 6xxxxxxxx - regional 2 
02 4xxxxxxxx - regional 1
(telstra defines the exchanges as either metropolitian, regional 1 or regional 2)
-	0	1	2	3       	4       	5       	6       	7       	8     	9
2	-	-	 	        	Reg. NSW	        	Reg. NSW	        	Sydney	Sydney
3	-	-	 	        	        	Reg. Vic	Tas     	        	Melb  	Melb
7	-	-	 	Brisbane	Reg. Qld	SE Qld  	        	        	      	
8	-	-	 	        	        	        	Perth   	Adelaide	SA/NT 	WA
-- Chuq 02:12, 20 Oct 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Arbitrary section from 2004

message: I received a call from +61 6 xxxx-xxxx.  Can anyone tell me what the 6 means?  Perhaps it's a recently-added area code.
2601:1C2:4E02:3C3E:CCE2:FD9B:8F3F:B2C9 (talk) 05:11, 1 May 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Is There A 06 or 09 Area Code?

message: These numbers aren't strictly "coastal NSW". The old 04x prefixes were usually the fringe area codes around Sydney, i.e for places like Camden, Newcastle, Richmond, Wollongong, etc. They extended to about 250 km from Sydney where then the 06x area codes took over. I'm not certain if that was a hard and fast rule, just what I remember. Peter1968 09:39, 22 December 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: The Sydney region started off as the Sydney Metropolitan Unit Fee Area (SMUFA) - i.e. no matter what the originating and terminating ends, the call was charged a unit fee. Later, the Extended Local Service Area (ELSA) was created - a band around the SMUFA to include areas like Palm Beach, Windsor, Richmond, Penrith, all the way round to Helensburgh; I don't think it included Newcastle or Wollongong. It was a unit fee call from one of the ELSA zones to the adjacent tandem exchange (e.g. Penrith to Blacktown and all its dependent exchanges, and Penrith to the adjacent ELSA zones) but a longer distance call (e.g. Penrith to Parramatta, or Penrith to a non-adjacent ELSA zone) was a timed call. 47 was the code for Penrith, 45 for Windsor, 46 for Campbelltown - but I can't recall the codes for the other ELSA zones.
Prisoner of Zenda (talk) 11:11, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
thread_title: 02 4xxx xxxx

message: The item 'mass call service' seems to be wrong. It seems that on page 181 of the numbering plan the number is 1140 (ex. 11409).
Look on the next page, it includes the rest of the 114 range. Lazybeam 12:11, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  mass call service 

message: The article says that ‘The 106 number is believed to be first in the world’. Does this refer to being the first tty emergency number in the world? —Felix the Cassowary 10:03, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  106 first what? 

message: Whoever added the zones in Sydney (ie the 02 90**, etc), I reckon that should be moved into a separate section, and other areas included. The original list was meant to be just a general overview. If we are going to start doing that, we might as well start listing exchange ranges, or at least charge zone areas. Lazybeam 12:22, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: OK I've separated them out and added Brisbane. When I get a chance I'll change the formatting of the numbers in the Brisbane area (Make them like "07 30" instead of "(07) 30"), change Sydney and Melbourne to the same format, and add in Adelaide and Perth. Source is []. I also don't like the asterices in this section, tossing up between replacing them with xs or nothing. So "02 9***" should become either "02 9xxx xxxx" or simply "02 9" to be more correct. This is because of things like Telstra's "1*" dialling thingy (one-star) might be ambiguous. I prefer the latter. Lazybeam (talk) 13:07, 14 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sub-areas 

message: May I suggest an emphasis on transcribing telephone numbers acording to the *standard* formats ? I notice a common tendency in A/a to transcribe many numbers according to idiosyncratic formats ( eg omitting the "0" of the area code etc..trascribing the "04" of a mobile as if it were an area code etc..)which IMO makes for confusion, especially in databases etc.As someone with experoience of working in an emergency service environment where correct number recording/transcribing was often time-critical, I find it disturbing that the standard formats are so often ignored with potentially serious consequences. I am not sure what causes this confusion, except perhaps ignornce of the implications..any ideas ?
Feroshki 01:02, 27 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  using standard formats 

message: Do they use numbers outside the (08) 89xx xxxx for NT? I know NT has since been allocated (08) 79xx xxxx. Lazybeam 15:41, 30 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bathurst Island? 

message: Section/Overview says "The area codes do not exactly match political territories."
political is not the correct word here. "officially recognised boundaries" would be closer but there is a better phrase - just wish I could think of it right now.
A very useful and helpful article - tells this reader, at least, exactly what is needed and also gives dates for technical changes which is also very helpful in this type of article. 124.169.217.145 (talk) 07:06, 25 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Wording 

message: I went to these pages while trying to understand the Australian numbering plan in order to place a call. Curiosity made me read the paragraph about 000 and 112 emergency numbers. 
I understand here that a regulation in Australia specifically prevents some people to call an emergency service, just because they have no SIM when they place the call ? This seems unreasonnable, I would believe that the reasonnable regulation would be to oblige the carriers to allow emergency calls even if the SIM card is missing... Did I understand the right way ? And if yes, what is the reason for that ?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Michelgre (talk • contribs) 12:40, 6 August 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  No access for SIM-less carriage services to emergency call service ??? 

message: >Telstra Landline Test numbers 
>12722123 - Playback the last connected or current landline number
>12722199 - Ringback the current landline number
They are incorrectly listed. They should be:
12722123 - Ringback the current landline number
12722199 - Playback the last connected or current landline number
/dave.
Bushy555 (talk) 03:52, 10 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Telstra Landline Test numbers are incorrect 

message: At the end of the "mobile phone" section, the article states "Mobile numbers must always be dialed with all 10 digits, no matter where they are being called from. 04 is a prefix, not an "area code", as such."
However, earlier, it provides an example of how with international dialing the 0 can be omitted for mobile (and other) numbers: 
"Internationally the first 0 is replaced by the +61 country code (e.g. +61 2 xxxx xxxx for NSW or +61 4xx xxx xxx for a mobile number)."
So, which is it? Is the zero always necessary or not?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tekhnofiend (talk • contribs) 00:39, 23 June 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article contradicts itself regarding mobile numbers 

message: If I was to use the international designation to call a mobile phone from a landline in Australia, for example if I dialed +61 455 555 555 instead of 0455 555 555. Would I incur international rates?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sir Langan (talk • contribs) 05:00, 20 March 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Calling mobiles from landlines? 

message: What on earth does the hideous table under  mean? It is garish, compressed, unintelligible and it is unclear how to read it.
—sroc 💬 14:49, 7 April 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mobile phone numbers table 

message: In Victoria before the introduction of nation-wide 8-digit numbers, country areas used to be able to dial within the same area by just dialing the last 6 digits. A number that has been converted to (03) 5198 7654 would have originally been (051) 987 654. Because of this, many (if not most) country residents still specify their numbers in the following format: (03) 51 987 654. Can a reference for this be found and included in the article?
Danielklein (talk) 07:00, 3 January 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Alternate format for country areas 

message: The links for references 4 and 10 do not work. The correct links are:
4. http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/fictitious-numbers-for-radio-film-and-television-i-acma, and 10. http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/calling-the-emergency-call-service-from-a-mobile-phone--faqs. I have yet to work out how to correct them: the edit function shows only ref [2] ... so perhaps someone much smarter than I can fix them?
Prisoner of Zenda (talk) 04:13, 6 June 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: If you're still active, Lazybeam, you may care to have a go at fixing these links that have been wrong for more than 10 years. Prisoner of Zenda (talk) 21:17, 23 March 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: first one may have changed again https://www.acma.gov.au/use-phone-numbers-fiction 203.6.69.2 (talk) 23:00, 14 April 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  References (section 10) 

message: I'm wondering if it's worth mentioning in this article since Norfolk Island uses it. As Norfolk is an Australian possession, it probably should be included. SHB2000 (talk) 04:33, 18 January 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  +672