<p>If it’s a family member they always follow up with a call to my cell phone. It’s free from another Verizon to another Verizon.</p>
<p>cell phone service at our home is a bit spotty…we don’t have a cell tower very close due to neighbors fighting it off. Sooo… I use a land line primarily. Have caller ID so I pick up those I recognize and leave the rest alone.
I don’t always like like being interrupted by calls. We don’t answer the phone during dinner. I won’t stop a good movie to take a call. Of course, we listen to the answering machine and would pick up if it’s an emergency. I just don’t like the idea that I have to jump every time the phone rings.</p>
<p>I always say “we don’t respond to telephone solicitations, thank you” and hang up before they say anything else…We are on the do not call list, but I know that doesn’t apply to some calls.</p>
<p>Only on weekeds which is when most friends family call. 99% of weekday calls are sales calls. No cell phone yet!</p>
<p>Never answer the phone, unless I have deemed it an emergency (school calling, midday) or one of my family members. I actually hate talking on the phone anyway.</p>
<p>We have our land line connected to an old fashioned answering machine, so we screen every call. Most of the time, it’s a ring-ring-ring-ring, answering machine picks up and then a dial tone or just click. That means it was a pollster or the cable company or phone company etc… We don’t have caller ID on the landline, and we are on the DNC list. It has really helped cut down the unsolicited calls. </p>
<p>Now I need to get on the catalogue and junk mail Do Not Send list because the mailbox is ridiculous.</p>
<p>We do not answer the phone during dinner hour but do answer it at other times. While we have an answering machine we do not have caller ID so it is easier to merely answer each call as it comes in. We got on the do not call list and get few solicitation calls.</p>
<p>The only time we do screen calls on the answering machine is near national election days when oodles of annoying calls are made. Do candidates really think they work???</p>
<p>I don’t have a landline. Just a cell phone for me! Delivery places have always been fine with it.</p>
<p>I also have Skype, but I hardly ever use it.</p>
<p>I haven’t answered the phone in years and years. Finally got rid of all landlines at residences two years ago. Use Skype most of the time, blackberry for business, personal cell phone for personal stuff. But I am considering getting rid of the personal cell phone as well…</p>
<p>wow, I can’t believe no one has mentioned privacy manager. We have it, and it has cut down on phone calls tremendously. What happens is, when a solicitor, or whoever calls, but blocks their phone number, our phone won’t ring until the person calling has pressed a certain number that says they are willing to announce who they are. Then if they choose to announce who they are, the press that number, it gives them about 4 seconds to state their name or company name, then our phone will ring. When I answer, it says this is privacy manager… to find out who is calling, press 1, then I press 1, and I hear what the person calling said as far as who’s calling. If I want to accept the call, I press 1 again. If I don’t want to accept the call, I push another number, and it tells the caller that our number does not wish to accept calls from them. What happens is, solicitors usually realize when they get privacy manager that they’re wasting their time with us, so when they are given the opportunity to state their name, they hang up, thus our phone won’t even ring.</p>
<p>Our work cell phone numbers are set up to be blocked so that our patients and families don’t have access to our cell phone numbers when we call them (if they need to reach us, there’s another number they call and ask to have us paged; then we return their call). But if someone from work calls me at home from their cell phone, it goes to privacy manager, they state their name, my phone rings, I hear who it is, accept the call, and the call goes through.</p>
<p>I very rarely answer a call unless I recognize the number on caller ID. If just he number appears, with no name, and I don’t recognize it, I don’t answer it. We, too, also still have an old fashioned answering machine, so if someone wants to talk to us bad enough, they can leave a message, and if I’m at home and during the message realize it’s someone I need to talk to, I will answer. But I always screen unknown numbers through the answering machine. I’d say I get maybe a handful of calls a week from non-profits that we’ve donated to, but many times we don’t answer the phone even then. I agree that they can send information in the mail if they are looking for money.</p>
<p>Privacy manager does have a cost associated with it; I can’t remember what it is, somewhere around $7/month. Totally worth every cent. We often have days that our land line never rings… people call our cells.</p>
<p>The trick is that I don’t give out my cell phone number to anyone except family members. My boss somehow got it but he rarely calls. If he does call more often than the company has to pay for it.</p>
<p>My privacy manager is my voice mail box. I don’t answer the phone if the ID is blocked. If I don’t recognize the phone number or name on my caller ID I let it jump into voice mail. Anyone who really wants to speak to me rather than tell me who to vote for or ask me for money will leave a message.</p>
<p>Caller ID should be mandatory and phones should be designed so that you have to check the caller ID before accepting the call. Cell phones are almost set up that way now. I never pick up the phone without checking caller ID first.</p>
<p>Our cell phones don’t work in the house and we don’t have caller ID, so I usually screen calls that come in after dinner. We are on the Nat’l Do Not call list, but you’d be amazed at how many “junk calls” we get. Of course, living in NH this time of year guarantees many, many, many recorded calls from primary candidates and even more from pollsters.</p>
<p>the thing about privacy manager is that the phone doesn’t even ring if the caller doesn’t opt to record their name, so it’s much quieter around here, and I don’t find myself interrupted to check the caller ID every time the phone rings.</p>
<p>its hard to answer the phone when you can’t find it because the battery is dead so you can’t even beep at it.</p>
<p>I don’t answer the phone at my house. There’s an answering machine. It isn’t for me anyway. </p>
<p>People who I want to talk to have my cell phone number. When I had a job last summer, my official paperwork had my house phone number on it, but my boss and the people I worked with only had my cell phone number.</p>
<p>I prefer the cell phone because it normally tells me who it is. Also, I prefer calling someone’s cell phone because then I expect that person to answer rather than someone else.</p>
<p>I hate talking on the phone period.</p>
<p>I am on the do not call list, but it certainly doesn’t prevent all “survey” calls I get. I always tell them that the household does not participate in surveys. I guess I am a glutton for punishment because I even answer the phone in that 6-7 p.m. range, while I am preparing dinner, when I KNOW they will be solicitation phone calls of some sort. I tell them that we make no donations over the phone but if they send paperwork I will consider it. I am to the point where I will probably start saying that we make no charitable contributions. We do make charitable contributions, and of course everyone must share lists no matter what steps we take to prevent it. One charitable contribution begats 5 more solicitations. I really despise it. </p>
<p>There is a chimney sweep company and a carpet cleaning company which call periodically, although I have repeatedly told them never to call again, that I am on the do not call list, I have never used them, etc. I’ve tried to “snooker” them into thinking that I am interested so that I get enough info about them to be able to report them, but the rep is always smart enough to hang up when I ask too many questions about their location.</p>