You might be thinking about upgrading from your current office number to a new 1300 number, or you might be looking to move away from your current 1300 inbound provider.
In either situation, it’s good to know what to look out for when choosing a 1300 number and provider as as each provider offers different options, plans and features.
Inbound call charges
To make it entirely confusing, some providers charge you a different rate based on not only where the call has come from, but where it’s being terminated to. How on earth will you know how much your 1300 number is costing you until you receive your bill? Talk about difficult to understand. Talk about the potential for bill-shock!
What you should be looking for is a provider with a simple inbound charging rates, where you simply pay a per minute rate based on where calls a terminated. That way, you control the costs and you’ll be able to work roughly work out what it’s going to cost you.
Port away fees
Like mobile phone numbers you can take 1300 numbers with you to another provider and a ‘port-away’ occurs when you transfer your 1300 number from one provider to another.
Some companies charge an exit fee or port-away fee (e.g $70.00) when you move your 1300 number to another provider, maybe to consolidate your services and make it easier for you.
While you might think that you’ll be with one provider for the life of your 1300 number, things change and you might want to, or need to move your service at a later point. Often the port-away charge will appear on you final bill from your previous provider without any notice.
Free minute inclusions
Some providers will offer call inclusions in the their plans, which might give you X minutes free for a certain call type. These are generally good, but are often limited to a particular call type (e.g. calls from your local area), so other calls coming in from areas outside your local area are charged on a per minute basis without any free minutes. As good as they may sound，you may not be getting the value you thought you were when you signed up.
innoTel have a 1300 call calculator to see which plan is right for your needs.
Choose your own 1300 number
Some providers let you choose your own number. But be warned; if your number is considered a vanity number, a smart word or consists of sequential numbers, you might find there may be higher upfront or ongoing fees involved.
Features
Most 1300 providers simply forward you inbound call to a phone number and offer very little in addition.
Look for a provider that allows you to change your termination number (the number your 1300 number forwards calls to) online and at no cost. Other features that may be important to you is being able to send calls to different numbers at certain times of the day. For example, during office hours you’ll want calls to come to your desk phone, while after hours, you might want those calls sent to your mobile instead.
Some providers will go above and beyond the norm and offer advanced 1300 number reporting services to help you understand where your customers are calling from and how your marketing campaigns are performing.
Additional charges
You’ll find some providers charge fees to change termination numbers for you, despite it being a very small task. Say you want to temporarily change your terminating number from your office to your mobile as you’ll be away for a week. This somewhat small change may result in a small fee on your next bill.
If they do charge for this，then make sure they allow you to change it online at no cost.
That’s it for our 1300 number wrap up. We hope that’s helped you lean more about the 1300 number offerings in the market.
If you are looking for a 1300 number, don’t forget to take a look at our plans, or subscribe to our newsletter for more interesting posts just like this one!