Placing a call to a National Relay Service User allows the call receiver with a hearing impairment to utilise the government service and engage in the conversation.

Each service has a different dialling number, which you will give the user’s phone number to and engage in conversation via an NRS officer.

1. NRS Chat users

Contact number: 1300 553 467 and give the user's phone number.

Your message will be transcribed by a relay officer to be sent to the call receiver to read and type a response on the computer, tablet, or smartphone. Their response will then be dictated back to you, and so on.

2. SMS Relay users

Contact number: 133 677 and give the user's phone number.

Your message will be transcribed by a relay officer to be sent as a text message to the call receiver to read and type a response (within 160 characters) on their mobile device. Their response will then be dictated back to you, and so on. 

3. Video Relay users

Contact number: 1300 149 715 and give the user's Skype contact name.

Your phone call will be answered by a relay officer who will sign your message using video call to the call receiver as an Auslan user. The Auslan user will sign their response back to the relay officer who will dictate it to you over the phone.

4. NRS Captions users

Contact number: 1300 318 850 and give the user's phone number.

Your phone call will be answered by both the call receiver and a relay officer, allowing for the receiver to either listen to your message themselves or wait for the relay officer to transcribe the caption. The receiver will respond using their own voice.

5. Voice Relay users

Contact number: 1300 555 727 and give the user's phone number.

Your phone call will be answered by both the call receiver and relay officer. The NRS user will hear your message and respond accordingly, with the relay officer being able to re-speak all or part of what the user said to clarify if needed.

6. Teletypewriter (TTY) users

Contact number: 133 677 and give the user's phone number.

This number is used for all three of the TTY call types available through the relay service.

• Speak and Read: Your message is typed by a relay officer for the NRS user to read, and they will respond by speaking directly to you.
• Type and Read: Your message is typed by a relay officer for the NRS user to read and type their response, which will be dictated back to you by the relay officer.
• Type and Listen: Your message will be heard by the NRS user who will type their response which will be dictated back to you by the relay

Further information and useful links:

For more information on using the NRS as an individual with a hearing impairment please visit the National Relay Service Web Page

Download: NRS810 - Calling a NRS User - Version 1.docx(DOCX)