Australian Phone Number Examples — Reading the Formats

Examples teach formats faster than descriptions, so this page reads the published Australian business number formats digit by digit — using this site's own number as the worked example, because its structure is fully published.

Example 1: a 1300 number

1300 327 934. Four-digit prefix, six-digit tail. The published facts attached to the format: it is a shared-cost inbound business number — the caller pays a local call cost, the business pays the remainder — on plans from $10 per month. Written as a word, the same number reads 1300 EASY DIAL, because E→3, A→2, S→7, Y→9, D→3, I→4, A→2, L→5 on the keypad mapping.

Example 2: an 1800 number

1800 XXX XXX. Same shape as the 1300 format — prefix plus six digits — with a different caller arrangement: callers pay nothing in the stated Australian 1800-number context, and the business pays the call charges. The XXX XXX here is deliberate: an 1800 tail is whatever available number carries it, and no page should print digits that may belong to someone else.

Example 3: a 13 number

13 XXXX. The short variant — six digits in total, which the published FAQ notes is typically used by larger national companies. A word on a 13 base carries up to four letters, against six on the 1300 and 1800 tails.

What the examples teach

The prefix is the type: 13, 1300 or 1800 says inbound business number; an area code says geographic landline, which is a different product this site does not sell.
The tail is the choice: six digits — or a word spelling them — chosen from the available listing.
The word and the digits are one number: 1300 EASY DIAL and 1300 327 934 dial identically; the word is the tail written in letters.

How formats fail in the wild

Real-world number errors follow the same three patterns. The truncated tail — a 1300 number printed with five digits, usually from a design crop. The merged prefix — "1300327934" with no spaces, which dials correctly but reads badly and gets misremembered. And the phantom word — a word printed next to digits it does not spell, which the keypad check catches in seconds. Each error is invisible in a design file and expensive in an ad; each is checkable against the format rules above before anything goes to print.

Choosing your own example

Search available 1300/1800 Phonewords by word or last six digits — your number becomes the example customers learn. Plans and rates are on the pricing page; a word adds a component from $40 per month with availability and desirability affecting the price. Related reading: what Australian numbers start with, or the words to numbers worked examples.

Format questions

How should I write my number in ads?

Exactly as confirmed — prefix and tail, or the word if it has one. Reformatted or truncated numbers are the classic advertising typo.

Why does the 1800 example use X's?

Because the tail belongs to whoever holds that number. Formats are public; digits are specific — print digits only for numbers you have confirmed.

Can a 1300 tail start with 0?

The published search works on the last six digits, and the published word mapping carries no letters on 0 or 1. What tails exist is the listing's answer — search and see.

Is 1300 EASY DIAL a real example?

Yes — it is this site's own number, 1300 327 934, and the mapping is the published keypad: 2 ABC through 9 WXYZ.