Look at that chap; why’s he surprised? Because he’s called a 1800 number, and from today, he doesn’t have to pay for it on his mobile. From 1 July, Vodafone, Optus and Telstra are all now providing their customers with free of charge calls to 1800 numbers.
Vodafone joined Optus and Telstra in doing so, notwithstanding its own concerns about the cost it would have to wear because of the changes. It noted that the offering of free 1800 calls doesn’t take into account interconnect charges imposed by various telecommunication providers on each other when traversing each others systems.
ACMA also spoke about changes today, noting that the ongoing reform of charges for 13/1300/1800 numbers by the industry without the need for regulatory intervention is a significant achievement, and acknowledges the industry’s leadership without the need for the heavy hand of the regulator.
There are some limited providers that aren’t offering free calls to 1800 numbers yet, and if you’re with one of those and 1800 numbers are important to you, you may consider moving to another provider that offers the service.
This is good news, and before too long. The thing the really annoyed me was Optus’s “Unlimited” plans from a few years ago that excluded calls to 13/1300 and 1800 numbers. Their justification was the cost to them. What about the cost of the all the other calls there were included, including calls to other network mobiles? Isn’t that why I was paying huge monthly fees to them? There was no mentioned of these calls being excluded in my contract. There was a clause about 13/1300 and 1800 calls not being included in my *data* allowance, which Optus tried to… Read more »
Jim this must have been decades ago!? Optus’s unlimited plans haven’t excluded 13/1800 numbers from caps or unlimited plans in decades!
How innovate of your Ozzy telcos. Been like that forever here in Kiwiland..
What about prepaid users or is that included as well?
1800 numbers are free, regardless of your payment status if I recall.