We got rid of our land line and our “home phone” is now a cell on the pay-per-call plan. We made the switch because we hardly ever used our phone and most of the calls that came in were crap calls. Rather than be charged for answering, if I don’t recognize the caller’s number, I’ll let it go to voice mail. Scammers won’t bother. The very few legit calls will leave a message. My cheapie little flip phone is set up so that I have to press a button to answer, so I can read the screen without actually connecting to the caller.
Just in case, I’ll check missed call numbers, and pretty much all the time, they’re listed on various sites as scammers or telemarketers (and that’s not necessarily redundant.) What surprises me at these sites are how many people bitch about the calls, but they answer them anyway. Why would you answer the phone just because it rings? Obviously these people have CID because they report the calling number.
So, I ask you, do you automatically answer when your phone rings or do you screen via CID?
Screen. If I don’t recognize the number, I let it go to voice mail. On my Android smart phone, I have an app called Call Control that stops some known scammers and telemarketers.
Haven’t answered a call from an unknown caller for three years now and as far as I know I’ve never missed anything important. Most people who really need to get ahold of me will either leave a message or text/email me when the call doesn’t work. Once I know who the number is associated with I can add them to my contacts and see who it is next time they call.
I almost never answer my phone unless I am expecting a call. Random calls? Never. It’s my phone, I’m paying for it, I’ll answer when I want. It is not my electronic leash.
I’m too cheap to pay the $8 per month for caller ID on my landline. Unless I’m expecting a call I let the answering machine get it. Most of the time it’s a telemarketer, of course in spite of the fact I’m on the Do Not Call list.
On my cell I definitely check the name before answering.
The only time I will pick up is if we have a classified ad running locally. I’d hate to miss selling my crap because the caller won’t leave a message. And, like Si Amigo, I add legit callers to my contact list: doctor’s office, dentist, pharmacy, vet…
I also have the option to add numbers to the Reject list, but there’s a limit of how many I can have on there. Guess that’s what I get for having a cheapie dumb phone.
Sure, I’ll look at the caller ID but if I don’t recognize the number I just answer it and say ‘hello’. Maybe it’s because I get almost no junk phone calls on my cell but I never understood the mentality of ‘I don’t know the number, I’m not answering it’. My sister is one of those people that will see her phone ring and say ‘this number has called me three times today’…well, answer it and find out who it is.
FTR, I typically won’t call an unknown number back if I missed it, but I’ll almost always answer it.
I screen them - if they leave a message on the answering machine and I want to talk to them, I pick up. If it’s someone I don’t care to talk to, I’ll hit answer on the phone then hang up right away. I can’t do that with ALL toll free numbers - I do get calls from some that are legitimate - so I only do it with ones I recognize have nothing to interest me.
I had to triple-check the date on this thread to be sure it wasn’t some kind of super-necro, and then was wondering if it was a hoax, but I believe the OP is actually genuine.
Most normal people have been screening calls for decades. It’s much, much more bizarre to think that there’s anyone who still answers the phone without knowing who it is (or if an unfamiliar / blocked number that isn’t ID’d, that they wouldn’t at least have caller ID).
Also what kind of plan do you have where you’re charged by the call?? Most have unlimited calling or at least a fairly high base limit for number of minutes.
Also, nobody I know except my parents and grandparents still have a landline (and they have caller ID on that too). Most use a cell as their primary / only phone and have been for years.
Screen all of 'em. 90% of the calls on my landline are junk and especially anything with a hidden/faked number (“4480?! That’s not even a phone number!”) are immediately dumped.
My cell phone number is sort of goofy. It’s 815-630-XXXX where both 815 and 630 are neighboring area codes. As a result, I get all sorts of wrong numbers so I just ignore any calls I don’t recognize and let voice mail handle the rest. Most people hang up when they hear the robot voice tell them that they called 815-630… and realize their mistake.
I always answer unless I’m in the middle of something that can’t be interrupted. Answering a phone is really pretty easy once you get the hang of it! If it’s a telemarketer, I just hang up on them, or fuck with them, depending on my mood.
I have a TracFone and pay for minutes. Every time I use the phone it’s costing me. Not a lot, but still. When I was looking for jobs and had to answer every call it was really freakin annoying when I got telemarketers.
I don’t answer calls if I don’t recognize the number. And if a number I don’t recognize calls more than once without leaving a message, it gets added to a contact named “Ignore” that has a silent ringtone. Then I don’t even have to pull my phone out to check.
The kind that fits my usage. I don’t talk on the phone much, so I can get a plan that charges by the minute and pay ~$10 a month for the calls I actually make. The plans that have unlimited calling generally cost several times that much.
My phone is a business cell phone. I get the seldom but occasional prerecorded sales pitch, but I hang those up right away. Pretty often I get calls from unknown numbers that turn out to be business related. My boss will give anyone my cell number if he thinks it can work out to be a new customer.
