Do You Pay for 1300 Numbers?

Do you pay for 1300 numbers? If you are the caller — yes, a little: up to the local call rate from an Australian fixed line. If you are the business — yes: a monthly plan from $10, plus the call charges above what your plan includes. The format is called shared cost because both sides genuinely share it, and that design is the reason 1300 numbers are affordable for customers and sustainable for the businesses that run them.

The split, side by side

| | Pays | How much | |---|---|---| | Caller (fixed line) | Yes | Up to the local call rate — often inside a plan''s included local calls | | Caller (mobile) | It depends | Whatever their carrier and plan set for 1300 calls | | Business | Yes | Monthly plan ($10–$99) plus per-second charges beyond inclusions |

Nobody pays a distance charge: the caller's share is identical whether the business is across the street or across the country. What the caller's mobile plan does with 1300 calls is between the caller and their carrier — many plans include them in the standard allowance.

The comparison that makes the split make sense

• On 1800, the caller's share is zero and the business funds every call outright — the toll-free choice when cost friction on the caller's side is the enemy.
• On 1300, every caller chips in the local rate, which is why high-volume businesses prefer it: hundreds of local-rate contributions materially lower the bill.
• Both dial the same way — ten digits, no area code — and carry the same features. The choice is purely economics, set out in 1300 vs 1800 numbers.

For the full cost arithmetic on the business side, see 1300 number cost and pricing; for the caller's view, are 1300 numbers free. If you are choosing a number for your own business, the available numbers pool is the starting line — the product overview is at 1300 numbers.