WARNING when enquiring about Phone Word Smart Numbers.

1. call some phone word companies to ask if a special phone words 1300 number or 1800 number is available,
2. use the website of some Australian 1300 number or 1800 number phone words suppliers to see if a particular phone word or Smart Number is available,

your request is recorded or logged. If the Smartnumber is available, they will quickly purchase it themselves and then attempt to 'lease' it to you at higher than normal fees.

Unfortunately, this questionable practice is common.

Your advertised phone number is the lifeline of your business, consequently if you do business with that provider, your business will then be at their mercy forever.

If you have a falling out with that provider, they could lease your (previous) 1300 number or 1800 phone word number / Smart number to one of your competitors.

We DO NOT lease phone word numbers and we GUARANTEE that we will help you to get the Smart numbers you want if they are available ... and they will be YOUR Phone word numbers.

Naturally we hope you will then use our services to act as the "carrier" for your Smartnumber ®.

SmartNumbers ® and Phone Word Numbers

An example of a normal 1300 number or 1800 number format is 1300 XXXXXX

A Smartnumber can have between 6 and 10 characters after the intitial 1300 or 1800 section.

If your Smartnumber has more that 6 characters, the network is programmed to ignore the extra characters.

Translate your word to numbers:

To convert a word to a phone number or to see what phoneword a number spells, use the PhoneSpell Converter.

Whether you can justify the additional cost of a phone word number or Smartnumber depends on several things ...

• the size of your business.
• your future business plans (expansion etc).
• how important is "branding"?
• how much are you prepared to pay for one?
• compared to a good "numeric" 1300 number or 1800 number, how much difference do you think it will make?
• will it provide a substantially better "return on investment" (ROI)?

If you can buy a GOOD phone word number directly for minimal cost via the ACMA Smart Numbers ® website (details below) ... then by all means buy it. That way you'll have full control over it ... and your ongoing costs should be the same as normal 1300 numbers or 1800 numbers.

However, if the only available word number is one that does NOT clearly spell who you are or what you do, then buying it could very well be a waste of money.

However, if a phone words company has already purchased the phone word that you want, then consider it VERY CAREFULLY!

Most of the generic and good phone words / smart numbers have have already been purchased by various phone word companies and investors. If you want one of these numbers, you will have to lease the number and pay (usually much higher) fees to the appropriate phone word company for the rights to use it.

In many of these lease contracts, your costs increase every year, when actual 1300 number rates are going down.

Also, the number never belongs to you - it is owned by the phone word company. You can only lease it or pay for the licence to use it.

If the phone word number you want is available, BUY IT YOURSELF!

The "Australian Communications and Media Authority" (ACMA - an Australian Government department) controls all phone numbers in Australia. Somewhere, someone decided that the government should make money from phone numbers that spell words, so virtually every 1300 number, 1800 number and 13 number that spells a phone word has been earmarked by ACMA. The licensing right to use these numbers is made available through an auction process at the ACMA Smartnumbers ® website (details below).

The minimum bid is $500.

How to get a Smartnumber ®

After you go to the Smartnumbers ® website ...

1. See if the number you want is available by doing a "Search"
2. If it is available and you want to buy it at auction (minimum bid is $500), you'll need to ...
   1. Register (cost is approx $50).
   2. Apply for the number.
   3. Nominate your number to be added to a future auction.
   4. You will be asked to nominate a carrier from the list. This is only required for registration purposes. You are not locked in to the carrier. However, Alltel is listed in the drop down list displayed during registration.
   5. Check the auction lists to make sure your number has been added
   6. Make sure you are available to monitor your auction on the day, especially during the last hour.
   7. If you are successful, you will need to pay for your number before it can be connected by a carrier.
3. Once you've successfully acquired your Smartnumber ®, you can have it carried by us by downloading and completing the relevant sections on our Account Application.

Click Here to go to the SmartNumbers ® website

Good Luck!

Smartnumbers is a registered trademark of Australian Communications & Media Authority