What Is a 1300 or 1800 Number?

A 1300 or 1800 number is a national business phone number that is not tied to any geographic area code. A caller anywhere in Australia dials the same ten-digit number (for example 1300 881 662 or 1800 123 456) and reaches your business, whether you are in Perth, a caravan on a job site, or working from home in Brisbane.

Crucially, these are inbound numbers. They are sometimes called "virtual numbers" or "inbound numbers" because the number itself is not a phone line. There is no handset that "is" your 1300 number. Instead, it is a number that the phone network routes to an underlying answer point that you choose: a mobile, a fixed line, or a cloud-based phone system.

This is the single most useful thing to understand about them. Because a 1300 or 1800 number is decoupled from the line it points to, you can change where it rings, split calls between offices, send after-hours calls to a mobile or an AI agent, and add menus and queues, all without ever changing the number you have printed on your van, your website, and your business cards.

The two things every 1300/1800 number gives you

• A single national point of contact. One memorable number that works from any state, on any device, for the life of your business.
• Full control over routing. The number is the front door; you decide which room every caller ends up in, and you can rearrange the rooms whenever you like.

1300 vs 1800: The Key Difference

People search for "1300 vs 1800" more than almost any other question on this topic, and the answer is refreshingly simple. The difference comes down to who pays for the call.

An 1800 number is free to the caller. The person dialling pays nothing, and your business absorbs the entire cost of every inbound call. This removes every last barrier to picking up the phone, which is why 1800 numbers are the classic choice for support lines, complaints lines, warranty hotlines, and marketing campaigns where "call us free" is part of the pitch.

A 1300 number shares the cost. The caller pays the price of a local call from a fixed line (or their own included minutes or plan rate from a mobile), and your business pays the remainder. For the caller, a 1300 number "feels" like a cheap, standard call. For you, it means the cost of running the line is lower than an equivalent 1800 number because you are not footing the whole bill.

Everything else is essentially the same: both are national, both are not geographic, both are inbound numbers that route to a line you nominate, both are portable, and both can carry the full suite of routing features.

The quick rule of thumb

If you want callers to feel there is zero cost or friction to reaching you, and you are willing to pay for that goodwill, choose 1800. If you want a professional national number while sharing the call cost with the caller, choose 1300. Most Australian small businesses pick a 1300 number as their main line because it strikes the best balance between image and running cost.

How 1300 and 1800 Numbers Actually Work

Here is where the "it's not a phone line" idea becomes practical. When someone dials your 1300 or 1800 number, the call does not go to a fixed piece of hardware. It hits the network, which looks up the routing plan attached to your number and forwards the call to whatever answer point you have configured.

That answer point can be:

• A mobile phone — perfect for a solo tradie who wants a professional national number ringing straight to their pocket.
• A landline or fixed service — the traditional office setup.
• A VoIP or cloud phone system — the modern approach, where the number rings your team across desk phones, mobile and desktop apps, queues, and AI call agents.

Because the number and the answer point are separate, you get flexibility that a normal phone line can never offer. You can change where the number rings in minutes, without touching the advertised number. You can send calls to different destinations based on the time of day, the caller's location, or how busy your team is. And you can layer on menus, hold queues, and voicemail without any of it being visible to the caller.

Why "virtual" is the right word

Think of a 1300 or 1800 number as a smart redirect that lives in the network. It is the public face of your business, and behind it sits a set of rules you control. The underlying phones can change, staff can move, offices can open and close, and the number never has to change. This is exactly why these numbers are so valuable as a long-term business asset: you build brand recognition around one number and keep it for the life of the business.

Who Each Number Suits

Both numbers make sense for almost any business that takes phone calls, but the choice between 1300 and 1800, and whether to have one at all, depends on your goals.

Businesses that benefit most from a 1300 number

• Trades and services (plumbers, electricians, builders) who want one memorable national number that follows them between jobs and rings their mobile.
• Small and growing businesses that want to look established and national without paying the full cost of every call.
• Multi-location businesses that want a single number routing to the nearest branch based on where the caller is dialling from.
• Any business advertising a main enquiry or sales line where a shared-cost, professional number is ideal.

Businesses that benefit most from an 1800 number

• Support and customer-service teams where removing the cost of calling improves satisfaction and encourages people to get in touch.
• Warranty, safety, and complaints lines where a free-call number is expected or even required.
• Marketing and response campaigns where "call 1800 FREE" is part of the offer and drives higher call volumes.
• Not-for-profits and helplines where callers should never be charged.

"I can't thank the team at Uniden Voice Over Cloud enough for our upgraded phone system. They managed to get my number back online after my previous provider disconnected my service, in a matter of 30 minutes we were back to business. The whole setup process was fast and exactly what we needed." Lukey Luke, Owner, Benzina Garage

Why They Make a Small Business Look Bigger

There is a reason so many one and two-person operations invest in a 1300 or 1800 number long before they need one for capacity. It changes how customers perceive you.

A geographic number (an 02, 03, 07, or 08 line, or a bare mobile) tells a caller exactly how small and how local you are. A 1300 or 1800 number signals a national, professional, established business, the kind that has infrastructure, multiple staff, and a proper support line. It is one of the cheapest and fastest credibility upgrades a small business can make.

The practical advantages

• National presence: Customers in other states are more likely to call a national number than an interstate landline they perceive as "not local to them".
• Consistency across marketing: One number for your website, Google Business profile, vehicle wraps, and print ads, with no area code that ties you to one city.
• You keep it forever: Move house, change offices, switch providers, expand interstate, the number never changes, so your advertising equity never resets.
• It hides the moving parts: Whether one person or fifty answer the phone, the caller sees the same polished national front door.

Smartnumbers and Phrasewords Explained

Not all 1300 and 1800 numbers are created equal. Beyond the standard random-digit numbers your provider can assign, there is a category of premium numbers known as smartnumbers. These include the memorable phrasewords you have heard on radio and seen on billboards, numbers that spell a word on the phone keypad, like 1300 PLUMBER, 1800 FLOWERS, or 13 CABS.

Smartnumbers work because of the letters printed on a standard phone keypad (2 = ABC, 3 = DEF, and so on). "PLUMBER" typed on the keypad becomes a specific sequence of digits, so 1300 PLUMBER is a real, dialable number that is far easier to remember than seven random digits.

How smartnumbers are allocated

Smartnumbers are managed through the national numbering system's rights-of-use and auction process. Highly desirable phrasewords (think 1800 FLOWERS) can be valuable and are held by whoever won or acquired the rights to them. Many strong, industry-relevant phrasewords are still available, and there is also a large pool of "pattern" numbers, such as 1300 111 222, that are easy to remember without spelling a word.

Should you pay for a smartnumber?

If a large part of your marketing is offline, radio, signage, vehicle wraps, letterbox drops, a memorable phraseword can meaningfully lift call volumes because people can recall it without writing it down. If most of your customers find you online and click to call, a standard number is usually fine and cheaper. Either way, you can lease a smartnumber and point it at any provider you choose, including Uniden Voice Over Cloud.

How Much Does a 1300 or 1800 Number Cost?

This is the question that trips people up, because the headline monthly price is only one of three cost components. Understanding all three protects you from a nasty surprise on your first busy month.

The three parts of 1300/1800 pricing

1. Setup fee (one-off): A once-only charge to establish the number. With some providers this is waived, especially for standard numbers.
2. Monthly service fee (recurring): The flat monthly cost to keep the number active and pointed at your service. This commonly ranges from around $19.90 to $50+ per month depending on the provider and whether the number is standard or premium.
3. Inbound call charges (usage): What you pay for the calls you receive. This is the part that varies most, and it depends heavily on where the caller is dialling from.

Why call charges depend on the caller's origin

On both 1300 and 1800 numbers, calls from a fixed line are usually cheaper for your business than calls from a mobile. Mobile-originated calls carry a higher wholesale cost, so most rate cards charge more for them. Some providers also apply a small connection fee (flagfall) per call on top of the per-minute rate. As more callers dial from mobiles, the mobile rate is the number that matters most, so always check it specifically.

Inbound Call Routing Features

The real power of a 1300 or 1800 number is not the number itself, it is what you can do with the calls once they arrive. Because the number lives in the network and points at a system you control, you can build a routing plan that makes a small team punch well above its weight. These are the features to look for.

The difference between a 1300 number that simply forwards to a single mobile and one that sits in front of a full cloud phone system is enormous. The first is a redirect. The second is a proper reception, routing, and answering layer that captures every call and sends it to exactly the right place.

"Knowing that our phones are always connecting our customers with the right staff has streamlined our customer engagement. Having features like this, which are usually only available to larger companies, in a cost-effective manner is excellent. Now that I am using the mobile application I can stay connected with my business when I am out of the office." Marie-Claire, Owner, Wealth of Health

How to Get a 1300 or 1800 Number: Step by Step

Getting a 1300 or 1800 number is far simpler than most people expect. Here is the complete process from decision to live number.

Step 1: Choose 1300 or 1800

Decide who should bear the call cost. Pick 1800 if free-to-caller is important (support, complaints, campaigns) and you will absorb the cost. Pick 1300 for a professional national line where the cost is shared, which suits most sales and general enquiry lines. If in doubt, 1300 is the popular default for a main business number.

Step 2: Pick a number (or a smartnumber)

Choose between a standard number (assigned by your provider at no premium), a memorable pattern number (like 1300 111 222), or a phraseword smartnumber (like 1300 PLUMBER). If your marketing is offline-heavy, a phraseword is worth the extra cost. If customers mostly click to call online, a standard number is fine.

Step 3: Choose a provider

This is the decision that matters most, because your provider controls your pricing, your routing features, and your support. Compare the full rate card (monthly fee plus fixed-line and mobile call rates), the routing features included, whether AI answering is available, whether the number can point at a real phone system rather than just forwarding to a mobile, and the quality of local support. Favour transparent pricing and Australian-based help.

Step 4: Point it at your phone system

Nominate the answer point. You can route the number to a mobile, a landline, or, ideally, a cloud phone system that gives you apps, desk phones, queues, and AI answering. With a cloud system the number becomes the front door to a full platform rather than a simple redirect. If you are moving an existing 1300/1800 number, this is also where you port it across, which keeps the number you already advertise.

Step 5: Set up your routing

Build your routing plan: business-hours destination, after-hours handling, overflow if a line is busy, an IVR or AI menu, geographic routing if you have multiple locations, and missed-call alerts. This is where a good provider earns its fee, by configuring it for you rather than leaving you to DIY.

Step 6: Go live

Test the number from a fixed line and a mobile, confirm calls land where they should during and outside business hours, then publish it everywhere: website, Google Business profile, email signatures, signage, and ads. From here the number is a permanent business asset you keep for good.

The Easiest Way to Get One: Uniden Voice Over Cloud

You can buy a bare 1300 or 1800 number from a reseller and forward it to your mobile. But that leaves you with a redirect and nothing else, no routing intelligence, no queues, no AI, and no one to call when you want to change something. The smarter move is to get the number as part of a full cloud phone system, so it does real work from day one.

That is exactly what Uniden Voice Over Cloud provides. Your 1300 or 1800 number ($19.90/month) points straight at an Australian-hosted cloud phone platform with AI answering and smart routing included, backed by Australia's Uniden brand (since 1966) and 24-hour local support.

"Uniden Voice Over Cloud perfectly complements our billing software. The ease of integration with our billing software and great local support improved our own customer interactions and now many of our customers have made the switch." Chris, Operations Manager, PracBill

You also get everything else the platform includes: free Android, iOS, and desktop apps, integrations with Xero, MYOB, Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Google My Business, Slack and more, no minimum user requirement, free demos, and free installation. The 1300 or 1800 number is simply the front door to all of it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What to Read Next

A 1300 or 1800 number works best as part of a modern cloud phone system. These related guides go deeper into choosing and running the system your number points at.