Australian phone number search
Australian phone prefixes explained
By the StoryCheck team · 4 min read · Published 18 August 2026
Australian numbering is unusually simple to read and unusually uninformative once read. Every mobile starts the same way, which means the prefix tells you the line type and almost nothing else.
Why 04 tells you so little
Every Australian mobile begins 04. There are no carrier ranges to read and no regional meaning, so unlike most countries the prefix cannot narrow anything down. Two 04 numbers may be on different carriers, in different states, or one may be a VoIP line presented as a mobile.
Because 04 carries no information, the useful field on an Australian number is line type, and that only comes from a lookup.
The state codes
02 covers New South Wales and the ACT, 03 covers Victoria and Tasmania, 07 covers Queensland, and 08 covers South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. These do point at a region, though 08 spans most of the continent and therefore narrows less than the others.
The business and premium ranges
1800 is freephone. 13 and 1300 are local rate, legitimate and extremely common, but cheap enough to obtain that the number alone proves nothing about who is calling. 190x is premium rate and costs you per minute, which makes returning a 190x call you did not start the one clearly wrong move. A lookup reports line type directly, including VoIP.
| Prefix | What it is | What it does not tell you |
|---|---|---|
| 04 | Mobile, all carriers | The carrier, the state, or whether it is really VoIP |
| 02 | New South Wales and the ACT | Whether the caller is actually there |
| 03 | Victoria and Tasmania | Which of the two |
| 07 | Queensland | Whereabouts in the state |
| 08 | SA, WA and the NT | Very little, given the area it covers |
| 1800 | Freephone, free to ring back | Whether the organisation is genuine |
| 13 / 1300 | Local rate business numbers | Anything about legitimacy, they are cheap to get |
| 190x | Premium rate, charged per minute | Nothing safe. Do not ring these back. |
Common questions
Can I tell which carrier an 04 number uses?
No. Australia does not allocate mobile ranges by carrier in a way you can read, and portability would undo it anyway. The prefix means mobile and nothing more.
Does a 1300 number mean a real business?
Not on its own. They are legitimate and widely used, but they are inexpensive to obtain, so the number is not evidence of who is calling.
How do I know if a number is a VoIP line?
Not from the prefix, because VoIP numbers appear in ordinary ranges. Identifying one requires a lookup that reports line type.
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