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3) Here's a novel approach: don't answer the phone. If you salivate like Pavlov's dog every time it rings that's your problem. Try caller ID, it's cheap. Try an answering machine. If grandma is dead, you'll know when you check the message in the next 5 minutes and there wasn't anything you could have done about it anyway.

Telemarketers actually PREFER you don't answer the phone. When they leave a message on your machine, you have no choice but to hear it. When I come home after having been out for a while, I usually get several of these leeches on my machine.

My machine has a delete button. Two words and I know it's crap.

The worse are the ones I get from the computer dialer. It shows up as out of area and opens the line. Then it dials the next number without cancelling and I get a message on the machine with, "buzzzzzzzz, buzzzzzz, if you want to make a call, please hang up and dial again".

But I just hit delete.