Telephone Numbers in Australia - Historic Numbering Plans

Historic Numbering Plans

0055 numbers were previously premium-rate numbers, but have been moved into 190 numbers before 1999. They are still referenced by many Australians.

Directory assistance was split into various numbers: 013 for local calls, 0175 for other national calls, and 0103 for international. The two domestic numbers have been replaced with 1223, while 0103 has been replaced with 1225. Other numbers for directory assistance, often with a call connection option, exist depending on the carrier.

2074 was originally the number for the time, which was changed to 1194 in 1976.

0176 was previously the reverse-charge call operator, which has been moved to 12550 or 3rd-party companies such as 1800 REVERSE.

Until the early 1960s, the first one or two digits of telephone numbers in metropolitan areas were alphabetical, with each letter representing a distinct number on the telephone dial. Each one-letter or two-letter code signified an exchange within an urban area. Rural and regional areas typically relied on manual exchanges, or only one automatic exchange for the whole town, so rural and regional numbers did not feature these letter prefixes.

This alphanumeric scheme was significantly different from the current system used for SMS messages.

The former alphanumeric scheme was:

• A = 1;
• B = 2;
• F = 3;
• J = 4;
• L = 5;
• M = 6;
• U = 7;
• W = 8;
• X = 9;
• Y = 0

The old call back number was 199, and could be used on public pay phones, and private numbers too. This has been moved to a new number 12722199.