Free Calls to Santa is back — with kids across the country lining up at Telstra payphones to be first through to the big man in red, following almost 100,000 calls to Santa’s out-of-office since last Christmas.
Santa fanfare kicked off across Australia on 13 November, with kids up bright and early to be first in line as Telstra’s Free Calls to Santa hotline switched on for its fifth year. Queues formed at local public phones as eager callers waited to share their Christmas wish lists.
From 13 November right through to Christmas Eve, Aussies can once again dial #HOHOHO (#464646) for free from any of Telstra’s over 14,000 public phones nationwide to chat directly to the North Pole.
Public phones are spread out across the Hills but you just need to know where to look.
In Monbulk, find the public phone on Main Street, at the corner of Jordon Street. There’s one in The Patch on The Patch Road. In Kallista, it’s located on Monbulk Road.
There’s a public phone located on Olinda-Monbulk Road, near The Gregorian Road and one outside the Sassafras Post Office. You’ll also find two on the Mount Dandenong Tourist Road in Mount Dandenong.
What began in 2021 as a simple idea to help kids learn the all-important skill of using a public phone has, five years on, grown into one of Australia’s favourite festive traditions – with over 1.5 million free payphone calls into Santa HQ (and counting).
Even when Santa’s main line is closed, the calls don’t stop. Since last Christmas, almost 100,000 public phone calls have come through to Santa’s out-of-office line – that’s around 300 calls a day while kids eagerly await the hotline’s return.
The festive season can be busy, and our national network of payphones gives families from Broome to Bendigo a simple, cost-free and direct way to reach Santa. In one quick dial, kids can chat about everything from reindeer snacks to how things are tracking in the lead-up to Christmas up at the North Pole.
Calling Santa isn’t just festive fun, it’s also a great way for kids to learn how to find and use a public phone in case of an emergency. Free Calls to Santa is a way to show kids what a payphone is and how it works. With all standard national calls and texts free year-round, it’s the perfect chance to help them memorise one important phone number.
Back in August 2021, Telstra made all standard national and mobile calls from our payphones free. It was their way of stepping up support, especially for those in need.
Since then, payphone usage has more than tripled. In the past year alone, over 25 million free calls were made, including more than 300,000 to Triple Zero and other emergency services. Now, over 4000 Telstra payphones also provide free Wi-Fi access, and they’re working to bring this to even more locations soon.
