Nearing age 65 I was being hounded to death by robocalls. Sometimes 30 a day. I installed a Tele-A-zapper two months ago. When the caller ID shows a telemarketer I pick up the phone for 1 to 2 seconds and then hang up. I have Zapped 51 numbers so far. 14 of these numbers I had to Zap 2 or 3 times but my phone is virtually silent now. Very easy to install and use.
The Tele Zapper is pretty good, from what I’ve seen it should do the trick.
You can do the same thing with a simple answering machine. Get a recording of the three tone beep you hear when you dial a disconnected number. Record that onto your answering machine, then your normal voice message. Let the answering machine pick up all calls if you don’;t know the caller. That 3 beep tone tells the calling computer your number is disconnected. They remove you from their calling list, which means they also don’t sell your number to other calling lists. Their computer actually hangs up after the first two beeps. It assumes it dialed a disconnected number and is long gone.
Just watch caller ID, which I wish we had. Any number you don’t know, let the answering machine handle it. Legitimate callers will probably leave a message.
You should also put your number on the national do not call list, it stops probably 90% of all telemarketing calls, maybe more, but it does let politicians through. I have our home number and my cell on it. I get maybe one a month on the home phone, less on the cell. And it’s free, can be done online without picking up the physical phone.