It’s better to set up a separate email account that can be deleted just for contacting those you don’t know.
Years ago(early 2000`s) I bought that anti telemarketer Zapper device from Radio Shack and installed it on my wire line .
It seem to work very well with that digitally stored telephone disconnected sound bite that played after being triggered by the first ring and worked great for a few years until.......
These two things are related.
Use a Google account and apply for a free Google Voice phone number. I have to read the help files again, but you can send that "disconnected" tone and message to callers that are either blocked or flagged as spam. I do not put a message on the voice mail greeting; instead, it uses the default greeting: "The Google Voice subscriber you are trying to reach is not available." Any messages left are then converted from speech into text, and I can glance through them in a quick second or two, vs. having to listen.
Want that in your home? Use this VoIP adapter for Google Voice:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BUV7C9A/
As you can have more than one Google Voice number, you can use one as your "throwaway" for those times when you are required to give a phone number, just like having throwaway email accounts. I like using it since I never give out my "real" wireless number. Outgoing calls I make via the Hangouts Dialer--quality is every bit as good as my wireless carrier calls (Project Fi).
The really odd thing is that on any of my Google Voice numbers, I've rarely ever had telemarketing calls. The only ones I get on my main GV number are related to places I have done business with. One number I use for professional purposes (job offers and such), and I have only ever received wrong numbers on that one. My "business" GV number, likewise.
I don't know why these escape the telemarketers, but I'm not complaining!
Back in the nineties~ 2010 times, at least here in NE. FL. I just advised all human solicitor`s to permanently put my telephone # on their "do not call list" and that failure to do so will result in legal action, as permitted by Federal Law..
Not many realize that a failure to ignore our request to not call back
is a federal offense; proof of it can result in them being fined, I think $1,000. Trouble is, so many calls now originate from outside the US that it is not enforceable.
I also thought it was against federal law for solicitors to contact anyone via the cellular network, just like it is against federal law to send junk faxes. The idea is that if the call costs the recipient anything (minutes used on a cellular plan, paper/toner used in a fax machine, etc.), it is not permissible. It still never stops anyone.
Other times, for a change, I just tell them I am running Linux.
The "convenient lie" always works.
Maybe once or twice a year, I'll be approached in person for some home improvement. "No, I do not own a home," is all they need to hear to stop bothering me.
Best time I recall was my buddy at work getting into an argument with a telemarketer selling water filtration devices. It got to the point of the two of them getting a bit heated under the collar. I guess the ultimatum was, "That water is going to
kill your child!" My buddy replies, "Big deal! I can make another one!" ...and hung up the phone.
That was at work, so we had to answer all the calls. The best method we had was to put them on hold indefinitely, wasting their time. Usually 30 seconds to one minute later, they'd hang up. Worked every time! And for many it was easy to tell. "Can I speak to the person in your company who...." was all we needed.