Comparing 1800 Number Plans Australia

You’ve been researching buying a 1800 number for your business, and you’ve come to the frustrating conclusion that it’s difficult to compare the 1800 number plans offered by the huge range of available service providers. We’re here to help – this comprehensive guide will help you understand how to compare the different services and types of plans so you find the right 1800 number plan.

You’ve been researching buying a 1800 number for your business, and you’ve come to the frustrating conclusion that it’s difficult to compare the 1800 number plans offered by the huge range of available service providers. We’re here to help – this comprehensive guide will help you understand how to compare the different services and types of plans so you find the right 1800 number plan.

Common structure of a 1800 number plan

Whilst is can be confusing to compare different plans, all 1800 number plans follow the same basic structure.

• Monthly management fee (sometimes called a hosting fee)
• Call rates (charged when someone calls your 1800 number)
• Monthly fees to switch on a feature (or feature set) of your choice
• Setup fee (a one-time fee to get your number set up on the network)

Sometimes you’ll see flagfall call charges, too, but we strongly recommend you avoid plans with flagfalls.

Call rates – how much should you be paying?

There’s such a huge variety of call rates on the market, but based on our January 2020 data here’s what you really should be paying.

Call origin	Answered on landline	Answered on mobile
National calls	7.5 cents per minute	14.5 cents per minute
Mobile calls	7.5 cents per minute	14.5 cents per minute

When comparing calls rates you should be weary of overly complicated rate calculations. All of Communiqa’s plans have an easy to understand single call rate.

Understanding hidden fees

Before you sign up with a 1800 number provider, make sure you understand all fees they charge so you’re not faced with a surprise at the end of the month. All of Communiqa’s plans have a guarantee of no hidden fees.

We recommend specifically asking whether there are any charges associated with the following actions. Plan changes (if you want to upgrade or downgrade your plan due to your changing business needs)

• Changing your 1800 configuration (ideally you want to be able to do it yourself online for free)
• Cancellation fees
• Port-away fees (when you want to transfer your 1800 number to a different provider)
• After hours emergency support requests
• International call costs
• Changing an IVR audio file or routing point
• Minimum monthly commitment in terms of call volume
• Reconnection fees after service suspension
• Reconnection fees after service cancellation
• Quarantine release fees
• Overage charges
• After-hours change requests

Choosing the right 1800 number provider, not just the right 1800 plan

With the huge variety of 1800 number companies in the market, you also need to be sure that you’re choosing the right business.

Here’s some questions you should always consider when choosing a 1800 provider.

• Is the company Australian owned? If not, you might not have any recourse if something goes wrong.
• Do calls stay on the Australian network? It’s cheaper to route calls internationally but you’ll get poor call quality and slow connection speeds.
• Where is the support team based? Local support teams are always better quality than overseas centres.
• Are they qualified telecommunications experts? You need to trust that they know what they’re doing and can troubleshoot properly if something goes wrong.
• Are they a carrier or just a reseller? Carrier-grade telcos are far better than resellers as they are technical experts and have direct access to the systems and networks so they can troubleshoot better.

As you can see, there’s a lot involved when choosing the right 1800 number plan for your business. You need to do your research and find out which combination of the best 1800 number provider and 1800 number plan is best.