How do phone calls work in Australia?

Here in north America things are very different to the UK. There's no such thing as a mobile number. A number is a number and the costs are no different to call one from the other. Local calls are free to make and mobile users "pay" to receive all calls.

How does it work down under? I know that there are mobile specific numbers there. How much more expensive are they to call?

Is it acceptable there to only have a mobile number if you're job hunting?

Are prices different to call different cities or is it the same cost nation wide?

We (husband and I) only have mobiles here. No landline in our house.

Its not an issue to only have a mobile number as a phone number.

We pay monthly for our mobiles. Something like $70 a month for the 2 of them. Unlimited texts and X amount of free calls to other mobiles etc. And then we have a 2GB data plan or something. If we go over the 2GB we pay a bit extra depending on the usage but rarely go over it as we use the Wifi when we are at home so using the home internet.

Afaik we don't pay to receive calls here.

I don't have anyones personal number in my phone that isn't a mobile number. The only landline numbers I have are for the GP, dentist, my work and so on. Not a single friend or anyone gives out a landline number or has one even.

Contract or pay-as-you-go is the norm here.

Many mobile phone contracts offer unlimited calls (not including some premium rate numbers) and SMS messages, and an amount of data, all per month. Some roll over to the next month if unused.

Pay-as-you-go mobile means that you pay up front for a certain value amount of usage. Whether it's calls, messages or data, once it's gone it's gone. Unless you pay for more of course. PAYG rates usually work out more expensive.

You only pay to receive calls if you are roaming overseas.

All mobile phone numbers are in the format 04xx xxx xxx. Landlines are not really all that essential, and has been mentioned, many people don't even bother with a landline since the only time they are not within reach of their phone is when they are in the shower! :smile:

As Australia is currently abroad, I've got contacts in my phone setup as either 011 61 or +61.

If you're actually in Australia with an an Australia SIM, will it work OK with the numbers starting like that, or will I need to update my phone book to remove the prefix?

As Australia is currently abroad, I've got contacts in my phone setup as either 011 61 or +61.

If you're actually in Australia with an an Australia SIM, will it work OK with the numbers starting like that, or will I need to update my phone book to remove the prefix?

They will work fine. Same as if you go to the UK and ring numbers starting +44 for the UK people in your phone.