Head to a payphone and dial #HO HO HO (#46 46 46) and make a free call to Santa. From now until Christmas Eve, Telstra is connecting all of their payphones around Australia to the North Pole.
With over 1.5 million calls made to Santa since the initiative began in 2021, Free Calls to Santa is becoming an Aussie Christmas tradition. Aussie kids (of all ages), can ring in the festive season with the return of the Free Calls to Santa hotline from any of one of the 14,000+ payphones around the country.
In the Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and Hunter region, you can find your closest payphone by using the payphone finder on Telstra.com or Google Maps.
That means kids and their parents can drop by a Telstra payphone, pick up the handset and dial #HO HO HO (or #46 46 46) to get put through to Santa’s workshop.
This year, we sent a Newy with Kids mini-reviewer to make a call to Santa.
She reported that, after being put through to Santa by one of his elves, Santa asked what she wanted for Christmas and if she’s been naughty or nice. He also asked if she’s excited for Christmas.
Discussing his favourite game and favourite Christmas movie, the Free Calls to Santa hotline is more interactive this year using the power of Generative AI, allowing kids young and old to have more engaging conversations with the jolly man in red.
Santa even uses your child’s name. Kids tell Santa their name and he uses it in conversation with them. The call goes for 3 – 4 minutes and is completely free.
For those concerned about privacy and appropriate content, last year, Telstra advised that these concerns have been addressed. All of their payphones will also carry a message on their screen and an introduction message from one of his elves saying that calls to Santa’s workshop are monitored for quality control, so everyone knows this before they dial the number.
They are also taking extra steps with this to make sure that Santa’s generative AI is helping to give children the right answers to their questions, and only on the topic of Christmas.
For more information about Telstra’s Free Calls to Santa program, visit the Telstra website.