Telephone numbers in New Zealand

New Zealand's first telephone exchanges, established from 1881, were manually operated, with calls connected by operators. Automatic switching began to be introduced from 1913, and expanded gradually over the following decades, although manual exchanges remained in use in some areas until 1990.^[1][2][3]

On manual exchanges, telephone numbers were assigned consecutively in ascending order. Multi-party lines were identified by a suffix letter corresponding to the subscriber’s ring pattern in Morse code. For example, subscriber 193M was signalled by two long rings, while 193S was signalled by three short rings.

With the introduction of automatic exchanges, the length of local telephone numbers varied depending on the size of the exchange and its calling area. Early numbers were typically three to five digits long. As demand for telephones grew, six-digit numbers began to be introduced in Auckland from 1954, Wellington from 1963, and Christchurch from 1964.^[4][5][6] Seven-digit numbers began to be introduced in Auckland and Wellington during the 1980s. It was common for telephone numbers of different lengths to coexist within the same area. For example, Hastings in early 1990 had a mixture of five-digit numbers (starting with 6 and 8) and six-digit numbers (starting with 75, 77 and 79).^[7]

A distinctive feature of New Zealand’s telephone system was that rotary telephone dials were numbered in reverse compared with most other countries, with 9 closest to the finger stop and numbers descending anticlockwise to 0. Under pulse dialling, this meant that 9 generated one pulse, 8 generated two pulses, and so on, with 0 generating ten pulses. These characteristics influenced numbering conventions on automatic exchanges. Numbers beginning with 9 were generally not assigned due to the risk of misdialling under pulse dialling. The digit 0 was reserved for the operator, while numbers beginning with 1 were used for special services.^[6] When the emergency number 111 was introduced in 1958, it was chosen because its pulse pattern corresponded to the British emergency number 999, allowing compatibility with existing switching equipment.^[8][9]

Before the introduction of subscriber toll dialling (STD), numbering schemes were localised and not fully integrated. Telephone directories included detailed instructions for dialling between neighbouring exchanges, including the use of prefixes for short-distance toll calls. For example, subscribers on the Halswell exchange dialling Christchurch would dial 1 followed by the local number, while Christchurch subscribers dialling Halswell would dial 22 followed by the local number.^[10]

Local calls within an exchange or local calling area were free (a practice that continues for residential customers), while long-distance (toll) calls required operator assistance.

New Zealand implements an open numbering plan. The long distance dialing prefix is 0. In the international network Its telephone country code is 64. The international dialing prefix is 00.

The long-distance trunk prefix is 0. It is dialled before the national number for calls within the country. This digit is usually quoted as the leading digit of the area code. It is not dialing for calls into the country from other countries.

The international dialing prefix is 00. it is dialing before the desired country code and foreign national number.

• 1956 - reads back the number the user is calling from (includes the area code "3" 7654321). (not One NZ or 2Degrees possibly discontinued on Spark NZ.)
• 1957 - reads back the number the user is calling from (without the area code e.g. 7654321). (not One NZ or 2Degrees Possibly discontinued on Spark NZ)
• 1958 - sends back the number the user is calling from in DTMF tones. (not One NZ or 2Degrees possibly discontinued on Spark NZ)
• 511 - reads back the number the user is calling from (One NZ and carriers using One NZ or 2Degrees Possibly discontinued for Spark NZ)
• 083201234 - reads back the pilot number of the line the user is calling from (if calling from a business line in a stepping group) or the individual number on the One NZ network.
• 083201231 - reads back the pilot number as above, with area code. (not active on One NZ or 2Degrees Possibly discontinued on Spark NZ)
• 083201232 - returns the DTMF tones of the line called from. (Not active on One NZ or 2Degrees Possibly discontinued on Spark NZ)
• 137 - ringer test (ringback number); Pick up phone handset, dial 137, hang up, the phone will ring, pick up handset to cancel.^[a] (Not active on One nz or 2Degrees Possibly discontinued on Spark NZ)
• 0196 - Dialed before numbers to show caller ID if it is disabled for outgoing calls on number you are calling from.
• 0197 - Dialled before any normal phone number disables caller ID for the receiving party. (not Spark currently, possibly discontinued for others)
• #31# - Dialled before any normal phone number disables caller ID for the receiving party.
• *32 - Dialled before any normal phone number disables caller ID for the receiving party. (TelstraClear/Vodafone only)
• *67 - Dialled before any normal phone number disables caller ID for the receiving party. (Voyager)

New Zealand has no dedicated series of fictional telephone numbers. Television shows and movies generally use any available range of numbers (e.g. the TVNZ soap opera Shortland Street uses the unassigned (09) 4299 number range.).

• List of dialling codes in New Zealand
• Telecommunications in New Zealand