Smart Numbers Australia solve a problem most business owners don’t know they have. Your phone number is the most repeated word in your marketing. It appears on your website, your trucks, your invoices, your radio ads, your Google Business profile.
People hear it, dial it, and decide whether to call back. The default option, a random 1800 or 02 number, is forgettable. A smartnumber® fixes that. ACMA manages the public Numbering System that allocates them.
Pricing ranges from $80 one-time setup on a SIPcity standard inventory number to genuinely absurd auction prices for premium phonewords.
What is a Smart Number
A Smart Number is any 13, 1300 or 1800 number allocated through ACMA. A phoneword is a Smart Number that spells a word, like 1800 FLOWERS, 1300 PLUMBER or 13 CAB. Every phoneword is a Smart Number. Not every Smart Number is a phoneword.
The distinction matters. Phonewords cost more than standard Smart Numbers and sit in higher demand. ACMA allocates them through the premium Numbering System. They are not allocated through standard carrier inventory.
A 1800 number is free for the caller. The business pays the per-minute rate. A 1300 number is charged at local rate to the caller, with the business paying a small per-minute rate. A 13 number is also local rate, usually four to six digits after the prefix, and reads as a single short string to the ear. Geographic 02, 03, 07 and 08 numbers are local-area numbers allocated on a different basis, and any memorability there is incidental to the digits, not the smart-number registry.
Two ways to get a Smart Number
You can get a Smart Number one of two ways in Australia. The first is direct from ACMA, through the Numbering System. You register, search, reserve and pay. The minimum for an ACMA premium Smart Number is $250. The second is through SIPcity’s own inventory of 1300 and 1800 numbers. There is no purchase price for these. You just pay an $80 one-time setup fee, plus your usual SIPcity plan. If you aren’t too fussy about the specific number you get, SIPcity’s inventory is the faster and cheaper path.
To check ACMA premium numbers, visit the Numbering System and search. To browse SIPcity’s standard inventory, talk to our team and we’ll show you what’s available. Both end up on the same SIPcity Cloud PBX once activated.
How much do Smart Numbers Australia cost
There are three price tiers. The right one depends on whether you want a phoneword or a standard Smart Number.
Standard SIPcity inventory: $80 one-time setup, no purchase price, plus the SIPcity plan fee. This is the cheapest route and the right answer for most businesses.
ACMA premium Smart Number (phonewords): purchase price starts at $250 and climbs based on demand. The Numbering System auction sets the price. Common phonewords like 1300 FLOWERS or 1800 REMOVAL can run into the low thousands. Truly rare ones (the four- and five-figure numbers) are priced individually.
Public auction numbers: out of reach for most small businesses. The records exist on the Numbering System if you want to see what a top-tier number costs. The full breakdown is on the Numbering System costs and fees page.
One important rule: there are no free Smart Number. Whether you go through ACMA or through SIPcity, you pay real money. The $80 setup is the only cheap route, and that’s a SIPcity inventory number, not an ACMA premium phoneword.
How to check if a number is available
ACMA runs the Numbering System, the only authoritative registry of available Smart Numbers in Australia. You can search by prefix (13, 1300, 1800) and by word pattern, then filter by tier and price. The system is free to search; you only pay when you reserve.
- Search for the words that match your business before searching for numbers you find memorable. A florist who searches FLOWERS gets a better shortlist than a florist who searches 1800 555 0100.
- Register the number as soon as you find one you want. The Numbering System holds the number while you transfer it to a carrier, and that hold prevents other buyers from taking it. If you take three days to decide, the next person will take one.
You can do all of this without being a SIPcity customer. The Numbering System is a public tool. You can hold a number while you decide which carrier to use. If you end up porting to SIPcity, the reservation and the port line up cleanly.
How SIPcity activates your Smart Number
Once you have reserved your number through the Numbering System, you have an EROU. That is the unique registration ID for the number in ACMA’s system. Porting it to SIPcity is the easy part. The transfer takes 3 to 7 business days. Once your SIPcity account is established, we handle the paperwork with ACMA and your previous carrier, if any. There is an $80 porting fee for ACMA-allocated numbers.
Your SIPcity account comes with the standard business phone features: voicemail to email, Auto Attendant, call recording and shared SMS. Auto Attendant is the menu system that lets callers press 1 for sales, 2 for support, that kind of thing. Call recording is enabled where lawful and disclosed. Shared SMS works if the number supports it. The SIPcity Cloud PBX is the heavy lifter and makes the magic happen.
Most customers have a defined Inbound Call Flow which routes the caller through call queues to reach the target person or department. That is the only real operational decision after porting: where does the number route?
One important limitation: you cannot present a 13, 1300 or 1800 number as your outbound Calling Line Identification (CLI). These numbers are inbound-only.
When a Smart Number pays for itself
A 1800 phoneword costs $250. One extra call a week at $100 average spend pays it off in three weeks. After that, every additional call from the same number is pure margin.
The businesses that benefit most are those whose advertising spend is high enough that memorability matters. Trades, healthcare, professional services, real estate, hospitality, e-commerce brands with radio spend. Any business that runs repeated ad campaigns where the number is the call to action. If you are paying for any media, a Smart Number compounds. If you are not paying for media, the case is weaker and a standard number is fine.
One real-world example: a tradie we work with switched from a generic 03 number to a memorable 1300 number spelling PLUMBER. He reports 30 percent more inbound calls in the first six months. The number cost less than a month of advertising. That is the kind of payback Smart Number Australia are designed to deliver. It is why Smart Number prices are what they are.
The shortest path
The Numbering System is open to everyone. You can search and reserve without being a SIPcity customer, then come to us when you are ready to activate. We can also work backwards: tell us your business and your customers, and we will pull a shortlist before you spend.
The shortest path is to search, reserve the one that fits, and bring it to us. We take it from there.
If you would like help, talk to our team and we will pull a shortlist for your business.
